


The Shifters' Secret

by CardcaptorGhost



Series: Two Sides of The Walls [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 104th Training Corps - Freeform, Alive Marco Bott, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Badass Bertolt Hoover, Bertolt Hoover loves Reiner Braun, Bertolt is spelt Bertholdt, Connie Springer Being Connie Springer, Dina Yeager (Mentioned), Eren Yeager & Ymir Friendship, Established Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover, Eventual Levi/Eren Yeager, Eventual Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Fluff and Angst, Gay Disaster Jean Kirstein, Grisha Yeager (Mentioned) - Freeform, Grisha Yeager's Bad Parenting, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jean Kirstein & Eren Yeager Friendship, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Marley (Shingeki no Kyojin), Marley Warrior Unit, Maybe - Freeform, Nonbinary Hange Zoë, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Paradis Island (Shingeki no Kyojin), Reiner Braun loves Bertolt Hoover, Sasha Blouse Being Sasha Blouse, Slow Build, The Armored Titan, The Attack Titan, The Colossal Titan, The Jaws Titan, Titan Shifter (Unknown), Titan Shifter Bertolt Hoover, Titan Shifter Eren Yeager, Titan Shifter Reiner Braun, secrets and lies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:33:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 84,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25671385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CardcaptorGhost/pseuds/CardcaptorGhost
Summary: Eren didn’t recognise where he was, a land full of sand with stars twinkling in the sky. A voice called his name hipnotising him almost to walk towards the giant pillar of light that branched out like a tree. The closer he got, the brighter the light shone.“Eren Yeager” the voice spoke and a small girl appeared inside the pillar of light. The girl had straight cut bangs with shoulder-length light coloured hair. She wore a tattered dress with a cloth headband, sash belt, and leather sandals laced just above her ankles. She looked like a slave, but even by looking at her, Eren knew that this girl was special. She was important, but he didn’t know why."Eren Yeager, son of Grisha Yeager and inheritor of one of the nine," the girl said.“What! How the hell can you know that about me, I don’t know that about me. The inheritor of what?! Where are my parents?  What happened to me? What happened to my memories? Did you take my memories?” Eren said firing off as many questions as he could, but the girl just shook her head.“Everything will become clear soon, my dear descendant, follow the paths, come find me before it’s too late,”.
Relationships: Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Levi/Eren Yeager, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Moblit Berner/Hange Zoë, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover
Series: Two Sides of The Walls [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116386
Comments: 185
Kudos: 368
Collections: Just sum of ma fav Aot Fic





	1. Chapter 1

_Dear General Magath,_

_During my infiltration of the devil’s island, I have discovered many things which we at first didn’t consider when the Paradis Island Operation was first announced. I am currently stuck in the Shiganshina District and unable to leave due to age as well as not being a part of some sort of trade which has the need to travel to other districts or inside the other two walls. It seems that unless you are a merchant or a doctor, the devils stay in the district that they live in only going past the gate to get the materials needed._

_As predicted the Eldians inside these walls do not have any memories of our true history and seem to be naive to the truth behind the titans and believe they are the last of humanity remaining. The king must have used the power of the founding titan to manipulate these people's memories when he erected these walls a hundred years ago. Their ignorance sickens me, that they can live unaware of the sins they have committed when Marley and the rest of the world know the true horrors of the Eldian people._

_On another note, from what I can tell about the current king - King Fritz. Is that he is a fraud and must be a puppet being used to hide the identities of the real royal family. So as of now, I cannot currently find the real royal family and the user in possession of the founding titan. I’m sure that they will be hiding in the interior of the walls and will not reveal themselves unless there is a sort of disaster that forces their hand._

_I shall be waiting for your instructions_

_Gemini_

* * *

They left as soon as they received that letter from their informant Gemini. A codename to keep the identity of their informant hidden just in case the Paradis Soldiers somehow intercepted the letters Gemini was sending to Marley, not that they would – those devils were stupid, believing that they were the only humans left alive. The sooner they got the founding titan, the sooner they could get rid of the devils once and for all. It was his duty as a warrior.

Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie hated the trek from the docks they were chucked out on to the walls. It was long and tiring since they had to constantly change from using Annie’s titan form and Reiner’s whenever they started showing signs of fatigue. They couldn’t use Bertholdt's colossal titan because of its slow movements and Reiner was pretty sure he would be an old man by the time they reached the walls if they were forced to rely on it. Or the Jaws titan because it was only 5 meters tall and whilst it could move at great speeds it didn’t really do much to protect the three humans it would be carrying. The female and armored titan, however, had height on their sides compared to the pure titans wandering the plains outside Wall Maria. 

The plan was simple. Bertholdt would use his titan form to destroy the outer gate of Wall Maria. Which would cause a great disaster, and hopefully, make the holder of the founding titan do something that would reveal who they are or at least where they are. Reiner would then use his armored titan to break the inner gate of Wall Maria. Losing the whole wall would have to get some reaction, it had to. Once Wall Maria was abandoned and they were safely inside Wall Rose, they would meet up with their fellow warrior and informant Gemini to work out their next steps. Nothing could go wrong.

* * *

Eren could tell something was wrong, he could just feel it. Something was going to happen today, but he just couldn’t figure out what. He had been sent to collect wood with his adoptive sister Mikasa whilst his friend Armin and his mother Carla prepared for dinner back home. Armin had come to live with them a couple of months ago when his grandfather passed away. Mikasa was already living with Carla for a year before she took Eren in after the incident which made him lose all his memories of who he was, well except for his name - Eren Yeager. He had hoped that if he joined the Survey Corps and escaped the prison of the walls then he could find out what was being kept from him. 

“Eren you should change your mind about wanting to join the Survey Corps,” Mikasa said pulling him out of his thoughts, he looked over at his adoptive sister and frowned. Couldn’t she understand that this was important to him, that he deserves answers? Anyway, it wasn’t like she could stop him. When he is old enough and neither his mother, Mikasa, or Armin are looking, he was going to sneak away and sign up, so they couldn’t do anything to stop him. He was becoming a soldier if it was the last thing he did. 

“You don’t get it, Mikasa. I need answers, even if I die trying then it would be worth it. I need to know who I was; you don’t know how hard it is living a life without knowing anything about yourself, who you are, who your parents are, who your friends are. I know nothing about myself. If the corps give me the chance to find out that then it’s worth it. Anyway, it’s my life I deserve to live it how I want to live it” Eren snapped, he hated feeling like he was a caged animal trapped behind three massive walls just waiting for the day that they will be breached by the monsters living outside. 

“I won’t let you get yourself killed,” Mikasa said. 

“I don’t care. I would rather die making a difference then being trapped for the rest of my life” Eren said before quickening his pace. He didn’t want to talk to Mikasa anymore, why couldn’t she accept that this was important to him, it was something he had to do. Why didn’t she care that he had to do this? Why? Just why? 

Eren barely spared a glance at the returning members of the Survey Corps. He knew that the returning numbers will be low like always and the last thing he needed was to listen to the snide remarks from the adults believing that the Corps shouldn’t be leaving the walls and how it was a waste of money. He knew if he listened, he would end up picking a fight so instead, he kept his head down and headed home. 

“We’re back” Eren called out looking at Armin and his mother who were preparing supper. Eren emptied the firewood into the box before putting the basket on the floor near the door to be used again.

“Wow, Eren you’ve collected a lot of firewood. Did Mikasa help you again” Carla teased, enjoying watching Eren’s ears turn a scarlet colour when he tried to deny it. She might have not had Eren for long - it had only been six months, but she really felt that he had become her son.

“Eren said he wanted to join the Survey Corps” Mikasa suddenly said and it took all of his strength to stop himself from punching her. That had been a secret that he didn’t want his mother to know about until he either had joined the Cadet Corps or was already a part of the Survey Corps, not now.

“Eren get that ridiculous idea out of your head. I won’t let you throw your life away like this. I forbid it” Carla shouted; she couldn’t believe Eren had had such a terrible idea. Hadn’t he seen the number of soldiers who died whenever they left the safety of the walls? 

“I refuse to be trapped inside these walls like cattle. If it weren’t for the Survey Corps, I wouldn’t be here. I owe it to them to become a soldier and help” Eren argued, why couldn't people understand him and his reasons. 

“No, I won’t let you,” Carla said but Eren didn’t care anymore. 

“Oh, just lay off, will you. You’re not my real mother!” Eren shouted before running out the house he lived in and out onto the street with Armin and Mikasa chasing after him. 

* * *

“Well that could have definitely gone better,” Armin said when Eren finally stopped running and sat down on the riverbank steps, Armin sat one side of Eren whilst Mikasa sat the other. 

“Yeah, I just don’t get it. Why some people” Eren glared at Mikasa before turning back to Armin, “don’t keep their mouths shut. You knew I wanted to join the Survey Corps and that I didn’t want my mum to find out yet, but you still went behind my back and told her”. 

“I never promised to keep it a secret” Mikasa replied.

“It didn’t mean you had to outright tell her! I have what two to three years until I can enlist in the military, she’s going to be unbearable, so you better be prepared for…” Eren was cut off by the sudden booming sound which shook the earth and made him nearly topple over. 

“What was that?” Armin said jumping up from where he was sat and darted towards the small crowd which was slowly gathering in the main street. Eren shared a confused look with Mikasa before running after his blonde-haired friend.

“Hey Armin, what are you looking at?” Eren shouted at his friend who didn’t respond. His eyes were transfixed on the wall. Eren followed his gaze and felt his heart froze at the sight of a large hand grasping the edge of the wall. Eren watched in horror as a skinless titan’s head appeared from behind the 50 meters tall wall, which was looking down at the small town. 

Eren knew it was going to be a bad day today and he hated that he was right. 


	2. Chapter 2

Reiner was always amazed by Bertholdt’s Titan form. The sheer size and difference compared to Reiner’s armoured titan, Bertholdt’s form stood sixty meters tall whilst his reached only fifteen meters. His form was covered from head to toe in armour whilst the colossal titan was skinless, it was hard to believe that somewhere up there hidden inside that titan’s nape was his Bertholdt, nested between muscle and tissue and protecting him from harm. Annie was in her own titan form calling the pure titans to them whilst Reiner waited. His role would be to destroy the inner wall of Wall Maria, he had already shifted when Bertholdt’s large foot started raising backwards before bringing it down on the gate leaving a large hole – big enough to allow all the titans Annie brought into the devil’s homes.

Reiner barely spared a thought to whether Gemini would escape in time. Instead he darted towards the wall grabbing Bertholdt from the nape of his disintegrating titan form and onto his shoulder before walking through the wall with Annie and the Jaws following after him with the hordes of Titans behind them. Reiner could see the humans running towards the other gate trying to escape the titan invasion whilst others pointless begged the titans to let them go as they were brought up to the titan’s mouths. He ignored what was going on around and slowly made his way towards the other gate making sure that Bertholdt was safe from the other titans reach, the Jaws stalked a head of them keeping the path clear of titans whilst the female scream which was still drawing in the pure titans was being drowned out by the deafening screams, the blood-curdling screams made Reiner want to run away to protect Bertholdt.

But the mission came first. Reiner carefully picked his boyfriend up off his shoulder, he could see Bertholdt’s concern look on his face and since Reiner didn’t have the ability like the Beast Titan to speak whilst in his Titan form he had to give Bert a reassuring lick much to his boyfriend’s horror.

“Reiner” Bertholdt shouted wiping his face with his sleeve but he did look much more relaxed. Reiner smiled before carefully passing Bertholdt to Annie’s hands. Once he was sure his boyfriend was safe, Reiner turned away and headed towards the gate. When he was in sight off it, he took off running, he needed to gain enough speed to ensure that he would hit the wall with enough momentum to destroy the inner gate and when he smashed through, it sent the people standing behind it flying – killing them instantly.

‘Good’ Reiner thought to himself, ‘the less devils that are still alive the better’.

Reiner slowly stood up before letting out some steam. He saw the horrified looks on the devils faces but he didn’t care, instead his eyes roamed for Annie, Bertholdt and Jaws and the second he found them, Reiner shredded his Titan form and joined his fellow warriors on the boats heading to the safety of wall rose.

* * *

The fall of Wall Maria had happened only four days ago until they were able to reach Gemini, for some unknown reason he wasn’t able to meet them the day they got into Wall Rose but now Reiner left Bertholdt and Annie to collect their daily rations whilst he headed towards the meeting place Gemini had mentioned in his last letter. Out of the three of them they agreed that it would be best if Reiner went to meet Gemini since during their warrior training – Gemini and Reiner got along the best aside from Bertholdt and Reiner. Gemini agreed to meet him near the old food building, which was currently being used to hold the refugees, Reiner stood leaning against the wall when he heard familiar sounding set of footsteps approach. Gemini was here.

“Reiner, I’m sorry it’s taken so long to finally meet. I’ve been lumped with two ignorant devils who won’t leave me alone. What’s your situation?” Gemini said, leaning against the wall beside Reiner. Reiner didn’t look just stared at the crowds of wall maria refugees surrounding the groups of garrison’s soldiers who had the unfortunate privilege to hand out the little food reserves they had. Its surprised Reiner on how little food the devils had put aside even though they must have anticipated some sort of disaster when they lost a wall yet, they seemed to have been lulled into a small sense of security that nothing had happened in the last hundred years so, they didn’t have to be prepared for something disastrous like the walls being breached to ever happen.

“Bertholdt, Annie and I are being sent to work on the fields. We’ll look for anything which will lead us to find the real royal family” Reiner answered, they had only found out today the place they had been allocated. Reiner could only be happy that Annie and Bertholdt was being kept with him, he needed to keep Bertholdt close to keep himself sane around all these devils but also to protect his boyfriend from the horrors of this world.

“And the Jaws? Did he not come with you?” Gemini asked, he had naturally assumed that Jaws came to unless something had happened to him on their journey here. Originally when Gemini was given this mission he was meant to come with Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie and Jaws after they had received their titans however, after the betrayal of Gemini’s predecessor he had been forced to receive his titan six months earlier instead of at the same time as the other warrior candidates. Once Gemini was in control of his abilities, he had been sent to Paradis to infiltrate and gather information. 

“He’s planning on joining the military in a couple of years so, he wants to make his own presence away from the rest of the refugees apparently” Reiner replied. He heard Gemini chuckle. Jaws had only stayed around for a day to make sure his fellow warriors would be fine before taking up a job opportunity in Jinae some town in the south of wall rose. He believed if he worked his charm as he called it down in Jinae he could find out something about the false or real royal family.

“That sounds like Jaws, for someone who likes being around people he does prefer working alone. The military may be the only option for all of us. I believe the heads of the Government know who the real royal family are and since the Military Police work with the government they might be an in to finding the founding titan holder. But that doesn’t mean the Survey Corps or Garrisons don’t know anything” Gemini said.

“So, we will have to split up between the three regiments, we do have enough people to infiltrate each regiment, so it is definitely a possibility. How old do you need to be to enrol in the military?” Reiner asked, he needed to know all the facts before Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt could set the next stage of their plan in motion.

“12 – we have to wait two years. Listen I have to go. There might not be a chance for me to meet with you again Reiner. So, pretend you’re working on your own for now. Look after Bertholdt and Annie for me” Gemini said before kicking himself off the wall, Reiner turned around to see his fellow warrior disappear into the crowd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just curious does anyone have any ideas on who gemini might be. I'm more than happy to hear your theories. Anywho, thank you to everyone who has read this so far and I hope to see you in the next chapter. 
> 
> Bye bye


	3. Chapter 3

_He didn’t know where he was, stumbling around in the dark lost and confused. He didn’t know how he got here; he was alone. Abandoned. Broken. He wasn’t listening to his surroundings; he didn’t see it approaching. He didn’t know what was happening until something grabbed him from behind. He heard a shout then he was falling, steam burning his skin as he fell to the ground. He looked behind to see the steaming corpse of a disintegrating titan. He didn’t understand how it died; he couldn’t see what killed it._

_“Kid how the hell did you get outside the walls?” a man said approaching the little child on a horse. The kid said nothing, instead he stared in wonder at the man. He was tall, an adult, the child was sure about that with short black hair and piercing green eyes, under his eyes were the slow development of dark circles and visible wrinkles were present on his face. The man scared the child, he wanted to run but where to, he didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know who he was, he didn’t know how old he was, he didn’t know why he was here. All he knew was his name._

_“Kid how did you get here?” the man said again. He looked up at the man._

_“I’m Eren Yeager, where am I?” the kid said. The man frowned._

_"You’re outside Wall Maria, it’s forbidden for any citizens who isn’t apart of the military to leave the walls especially little kids. How did you get out here? Were you hiding inside the wagons somehow?” The man asked, Eren didn’t understanding what he was saying, he had no idea how he got out here, he had no memories of where he was from._

_“I don’t know… I don’t know where I am. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know anything. I only know my name” Eren said before he started crying, he was scared._

Eren shot up, sweat poured down his forehead as he felt his heart hammering in his chest. It was just a dream; he wasn’t trapped outside the walls anymore. He was safe, well, safe as a refugee could be after barely escaping the fall of Wall Maria. Hannes had saved them but Carla, his mother had died. Eaten by titans because Eren wasn’t strong enough to save her. Hell, if Hannes hadn’t come when he did then Eren would have gotten himself and Mikasa killed.

“Eren did you have a nightmare?” Mikasa asked clearly worried about her adoptive brother. Eren looked over at Mikasa who was hovering protectively beside him and nodded. He couldn’t tell her that his nightmare was in fact a memory, the only memory he had before coming inside the walls. Commander Shadis had told him to keep it a secret, that the Military Police would come after him if they knew. The only people other than Shadis who knew Eren’s secret was Carla and a select few members of the Scouting Regiment being Captain Levi, Squad Leader Erwin Smith, Squad Leader Hange Zoe and Squad Leader Mike Zacharias. All Mikasa and Armin knew about Eren’s past was that he had lost his memories and that the Survey Corps had saved him. Whether they suspected that he had been found outside the walls had been up to their own interpretation, Eren wasn’t going to tell them unless he had to.

“Nothing can hurt you Eren, I won’t let it” Mikasa said. She had promised herself that she would protect him, the second she saw this scared child brought home by Carla and was told that he would be living with them.

“Hey, I got our rations, with the shortages this is all we are getting today” Armin said handing his friends their pieces of bread and sat down opposite Eren. A week ago, the government had ordered the refugees who were older than eighteen to join the expedition with the intention of reclaiming Wall Maria. 250,000 people were forced to go and not even two hundred came back. Eren had been there when the saviours returned, the looks of horror on their faces as they trudged through the gate of Trost. Eren swore the second he had seen the survivors that he was going to make every single titan pay, for killing his mother, for destroying Wall Maria. For trying to wipe out humanity once more. Eren, Mikasa and Armin were going to join the military and when they graduated the titans won’t know what hit them because Eren was coming for them.

* * *

“Where the hell have you been?” Annie snapped when Reiner finally returned from his meeting with Gemini. In all fairness he had taken longer to return but that was only because he had gotten distracted. Reiner opened his mouth to reply but Annie just shot him a look which said, ‘she didn’t care’. Reiner just shrugged before sitting down beside Bertholdt who instantly passed him, his daily rations of one stale piece of bread. He couldn’t really complain at least they were being fed but looking at this, it made the little food they got during their warrior training look like a luxury. The amount of food or drinks which existed in Marley yet hadn’t been made in Paradis was shocking. There was no ice cream or coffee and Reiner knew that Bertholdt needed coffee to function – it wasn’t something you wanted to see when Bertholdt didn’t have his coffee – pre-coffee Bertholdt was a scary Bertholdt. It would be an understatement that Reiner didn’t slightly fear what’s going to happen when Bertholdt ran out of the coffee he had brought with him.

“I didn’t think you would be gone for so long. Did Gemini need something?” Bertholdt asked when Annie left to do whatever Annie did whenever she disappeared.

“I got distracted by this” Reiner said pulling out a book from underneath his top. He had found it abandoned in an alleyway and the soldiers he tried to give it to, didn’t care about returning it to its original owner, so, Reiner decided it would be best to give it to Bertholdt “I know how much you love reading and that it helps calm your nerves. I know being in a new place is scary for you. I hope this would help”.

Bertholdt took the book from Reiner and quickly flicked through the pages, there was a mixture between words and pictures.

“Reiner, I love it! Thank you” Bertholdt said closing the book and putting it to the side of him, he would have to look at it later. Instead he pressed his lips to Reiner’s cheeks to show his gratitude and smiled when he saw his boyfriend’s cheeks redden.


	4. Chapter 4

Two years of painstaking manual labour and investigating had led them nowhere. Whenever Reiner and Bertholdt were working on the fields, Annie was off trying to find information of the fake royal family and its links to the real one, but just like Gemini had said. The real royal family was trying their best to keep themselves from being found, even after Wall Maria was destroyed they had done nothing. The person who has inherited the founding titan must have recognised that the Colossal and Armoured titans were titan shifters and not an abnormal as the rest of the world is claiming them to be. Reiner knew they were missing something; didn’t the real king or queen of the walls care about their people? Or was there something else at play here?

“Reiner what’s wrong?”. Reiner snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the worried voice of his boyfriend. Bertholdt stood beside him, his hand rested over Reiner’s covering the steam which he was producing as a by-product of his healing capabilities.

“Thanks, Bertl” Reiner said as he watched the injuries on his hand healed up in a matter of seconds. He didn’t remember getting hurt.

“What’s wrong, you look distracted” Bertholdt asked as he stroked his thumb over where the injuries had been. Reiner was always focused, and he hardly ever got distracted, or at least so distracted that he didn’t realise he had hurt himself from trying to pull the dead tree from the ground, which only made his injuries worse. Bertholdt was glad that no one was close enough to notice the steam coming from Reiner. The last thing they needed was for them to get outed as Titan Shifters before they could carry out their mission. Although like Gemini had mentioned in his letter to Marley, the island devils’ memories had been altered so they probably didn’t know that humans could gain the ability to turn into titans.

“I’m just irritated, we’ve been here two years already and we’ve found out nothing more than Gemini had already told us. Hell, we haven’t even seen him in the last two years so for all we know he could have found something important or he’s got caught and waiting for us to free him. I should have pushed, found out where he was going and made sure we had some way to contact him. Even if it was only for emergencies,” Reiner said entangling his fingers with Bertholdt’s and brought the back of Bertl’s hand up to his mouth to press a light kiss on it. He really wouldn’t have coped a day surrounded with his enemies if it hadn’t been for Bertl being by his side and acting as his rock.

“Reiner, you’re stressing yourself out. I know you don’t like being here no more than Annie or myself do but working yourself into an early grave from unconsciously hurting yourself won’t do any of us any good,” Bertholdt said worried for his boyfriend’s mental health, “Maybe the king lulled themselves into a false sense of security because they’re living in the interior away from the titans. A shock to their system would bring them out of hiding”.

“You think we need to destroy Wall Rose as well?” Reiner said, and Bertholdt just shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s possible, Wall Sina becomes the last wall of defence and the government gets cornered into asking the actual king to act before that wall gets destroyed. The founding titan comes out of hiding and one of us eats it,” Bertholdt said, and Reiner just stared at him with a look of awe on his face.

“You’re amazing, you know that”. Bertholdt’s cheeks flushed red before leaning down and pressing his lips against Reiner’s.

“Oi, idiots look who I found” Annie shouted as she returned causing the two boys to jump apart. Both equally red as the other for being caught.

* * *

Eren felt a little bad. He was stuck on some farmland for the last two years working his ass off with Mikasa and Armin practically breathing down his neck until it got to where on their day off; he had to sneak out of the cramped quarters they shared just to get some peace. Don’t get him wrong, he loved Armin and Mikasa; they were his only remaining family left, but sometimes they didn’t understand that Eren might want some space and privacy too. It was more Mikasa than Armin who was the issue here. He had left a note on his bed to say that he had gone for a walk, so they wouldn’t be alarmed when they notice him missing.

Close to where he was working was Trost. It hadn’t been long since he turned twelve, or at least he thinks he turned twelve. One of the many things he couldn’t remember, when his birthday was and how old his is. Commander Shadis had guessed he was around the age of nine or ten when they had found him. The Commander had decided that they would use the day they found him as his birthday because it was more memorable than choosing a random date. They found him September 4th 845, and today was September 8th 847, so technically he was twelve and old enough to enrol in the military. It was kind of another reason he had snuck away, Mikasa and Armin were desperately trying to change his mind about joining the military and becoming a member of the Scouting Regiment. If he signed up behind their back, then there was no way they could force him to quit on his dream.

“Oi brat, it’s been a long time”. Eren turned around, shocked to see Captain Levi standing at one of the shop stalls. It was selling some cleaning products.

“Hi Levi, what are you doing? Do you have the day off?” Eren asked, walking over to the older man.

“Some idiot spilt the cleaning supplies at headquarters, so I’m getting some more. And you, brat? I saw they had posted you to work on some farmland” Levi said as he paid for his items and followed Eren, ignoring the stares he was getting as they walked past. He was to use to them now, being humanity's strongest soldier and all.

“I’m here to sign up to become a soldier, I want to join the scouting regiment and wipe out all the titans,” Eren said.

“Tch, you know being a soldier isn’t the glorious life it mucked up to be. And how can you be certain they’ll except you with your memory loss, it’s a medical issue you would have to disclose it? God knows the scouting regiment is desperate, but do you think they would take a kid with memory issues,” Levi said, and he watched as Eren physically deflated.

‘Shit’ Levi thought, he didn’t like the defeated look on the brat’s face. Ever since he met Eren outside the wall’s years ago, he always seemed to have this determined look on his face. No matter what. Even in the face of the titans that Eren saw on the way back to the walls inside the cart Levi’s squad was guarding hidden underneath a scouting regiment cloak pretending that he was a wounded soldier. This expression was wrong, it didn’t belong on his face.

“Listen Brat, how about we make a deal? I can recommend you, so you can join the cadets with the outcome of joining the scouting regiment, then you won’t have to go through all these serious checks. But only if you can promise me that have control over your memory issue and you will not get yourself into trouble when on the battlefield,” Levi said and he couldn’t bring himself to regret his decision one bit, when he saw Eren’s eyes light up before Eren threw himself at Levi, wrapping his arms around Levi’s neck and said.

“Thank you, thank you Levi. I promise I won’t let you down”.

“Get off me brat, don’t you take a bath, you stink” Levi complained but for once he didn’t really mind as he reluctantly hugged the brat back.

* * *

According to the information he had found on his fellow warriors, they had been sent to a farmland outside Trost. Jaws could only be happy that they were kept together and not split up that would mean getting this letter to them would take twice as long and he was already on a tight schedule as it was. If he had to take a longer detour than the family who took him in would get suspicious. The last thing Jaws needed was to raise any suspicion. It was lucky he had bumped into Annie in Trost.

“Oi idiots, look who I found” Annie said as she returned. She had tried following a member of the interior military police, but she had been spotted and had to flee. It wouldn’t be easy getting close to them. She needed to take another approach.

“Jaws, it thought you were in Jinae?” Reiner asked.

“I was, I had to come to Trost. Gemini gave me this” Jaws explained, handing Reiner the letter. He hadn’t spoken with Gemini as he was talking with someone else, but Gemini had handed him this when Jaws walked past.

_Fellow Warriors,_

_I’m sorry that I haven’t reached out sooner, these last years have been a struggle being trapped with these devils and not having a moment of privacy to continue our search._

_Anyway, the point of this letter wasn’t to share my problems. I’m sure you have come to the conclusion as well as I, that searching for the king has largely been a dead end. Whoever they are, are trying their hardest to stay hidden. I mentioned this to Reiner when I met with him. I believe the easiest way to get close in on the false king would be by joining the military. The Military Police works in the interior of Wall Sina, they would be best bet to finding the real royal family but that doesn’t mean the commanders from the Garrison or Scouting Regiment won’t know nothing. The only chance we have is if we send two people to the Military Police and Garrison and one to the Scouting Regiment._

_If you agree with my plan to become soldiers, then come to Trost Recruitment Centre, we will be sent to the same training camp which will allow us to plan our next steps. I understand if any of you want to stay as civilians._

_I hope to see you at the Southern Training Camp_

_Gemini_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I decided I wanted Bertholdt to be more comfortable with himself and his abilities then just listening to Reiner and doing what Reiner says. I really like it when Reiner leans on Bertholdt for support more than he did in the manga/anime. I really hoped you enjoyed the chapter and I can't wait to get the next one out! We will find out more about Eren's time with the scouting regiment after he was found outside the walls.


	5. Chapter 5

_“Captain Levi and Squad Leader Erwin Smith, Hange Zoe and Mike Zacharias, I need to speak with you” Commander Shadis shouted as he returned to the camp the scouts had set up. The four individuals stood up from where they were sat listening to Hange blather away about all the titans they had seen and how they regretted that they couldn’t bring any back inside the walls with them for an experiment. Levi had been close to snapping before Shadis had turned up._

_“What’s the matter, Commander” Erwin asked once they were out of earshot of the rest of the scouting regiment._

_“I’ve come across something, I need you to swear that what I show you, you will keep your fucking mouths shut” Shadis said, it had been a matter of hours since he found the boy in the forest and other than his name, Shadis hadn’t been able to get anything out of him. It made little sense of how a child had gotten outside the walls with no one noticing. Even if Eren had hidden in the supply carts, someone must have seen him get out the cart since all their supply teams were accounted for. They hadn’t lost half the usual number of soldiers with the use of Erwin’s Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation._

_“What could be so important that we have to keep our mouth shut about it” Levi asked, looking at the commander. Scanning for anything small sign on the Commander to what he could hide, it’s not like Levi or any other member of the scouting regiment higher ups got along with the pigs back in Sina that they would willingly blab about something they saw on a mission._

_“Follow me” Shadis said before using his ODM gear to shoot off into the trees. Mike and Erwin shared a look before the four of them followed. It was only then when Levi realised that Shadis hadn’t come to camp with his horse, what the hell had happened or what the hell had Shadis found. Levi easily kept up with Shadis as he used his ODM gear to maneuverer around the trees until they reached a clearing where Levi saw… no that couldn’t be right, Levi saw sure he was seeing things because there could not be a little boy no older than nine or ten years old sitting on Shadis’ horse, looking completely and utterly terrified. It was official, Levi had spent too much time with four-eyes that he was now seeing things._

_“What the fuck” was the first thing that came out of Levi’s mouth._

_“I found him in the hand of a Titan. The kid says he has no memories” Shadis explained looking at the dumb-founded expressions Levi, Hange, Erwin and Mike were making. Mike stepped up to the child who instantly tensed when Mike started sniffing him, for a good few minutes everyone stayed quiet until Mike smiled and stepped away from the kid, which meant the child wasn’t dangerous, not that Levi thought many children were. Annoying yes, dangerous no._

_“You believe this brat?” Levi snapped._

_“Hey Levi, be nice around the kid, not everyone can deal with your grumpiness,” Hange said._

_“What are you saying four-eyes, I’m fucking adorable” Levi snapped but was promptly ignored by Hange who walked over to the little kid._

_“Hey, I’m Hange Zoe, what’s your name?” they introduced._

_“Eren” the kid said as he tried to shrink, feeling intimidated by all this sudden attention on him._

_“Nice to meet you, Eren, can you tell me how you got outside the walls?” Hange asked._

_“I don’t remember” Eren responded._

_“Okay, how about your parents, where are they?” Hange questioned, but once again they received the same reply._

_“I don’t remember”._

_“… okay. Are you from the Shiganshina district?” Hange asked, it was the only district nearest to the forest that he had a chance of making it to without being found by titans, there was no way Eren could be from another district and make it this far. He was a child. It was impossible._

_“I don’t remember”._

_“How about titans? Do you know what titans are?” Hange asked._

_“Umm… big things that hurt others… like bullies,” Eren replied._

_“Well, I guess you’re right. Titans are…” Hange started, but Erwin interrupted._

_“We get it Hange. Eren was it. My name is Erwin Smith, can you tell me what you remember?” Erwin asked, kneeling in front of the child._

_“Just my name I think” Eren replied looking from the strange person Hange to the smiling eyebrow person Erwin._

_“Can you see why I don’t want anyone else to know about this kid. If it got out that the Scouting Regiment accidently took a child outside the walls, there will be an outcry for our section to be closed down and you know those pig-headed idiots on top would be more than willing. We need to get this child back inside the walls but with no member of the scouting regiment seeing him, the only people who can know about this kid are standing right here,” Shadis said and the four section commanders and captain nodded. They would lose if this got out, then any hopes of ridding the world of the titans would be lost and humanity would lose its best defence._

_“We could disguise him a wounded soldier. If we put a scouting regiment cloak on him and have one of our squads guarding the wagon, he is in then we shouldn’t have a problem with getting him back inside the Walls. The only problem would be finding his family or at least someone who would look after him,” Erwin suggested, until he entered the walls no one would dare pester an injured soldier and if someone was guarding the wagon Eren would be in, then the person could quickly hide the child away until they can think of what the best course of action would be._

_“Levi, your squad will guard the wagon. We also need someone to guard him tonight like I said we can’t let anyone know about him, but it will only be one person guarding the kid. The other scouts will take notice if we’re missing more than one section commander and people would talk if I disappeared as well,” Shadis ordered, Levi pursed his lips in annoyance but didn’t argue._

_“I’ll do it, as long as you keep my darling Moblit at bay then no one will notice that I’m gone which will be a shame. I wanted to talk to all the scouts and find out what titans they have seen during the expedition,” Hange whined._

_“I don’t smell any titans around here so the child and Hange should be safe,” Mike said after sniffing the air a couple more times just make sure._

_“Then it’s sorted, Eren will stay with Hange whilst the rest of us return to camp. In the morning I want Erwin to sort out a wagon to transport Eren in whilst Levi comes to collect Eren and Hange” Shadis said before shooting his ODM cables into the nearest tree and headed back to camp. Levi took one last look at the child and Hange before following suit with Erwin and Mike not far behind him after they said goodnight._

_The following morning when no one was looking Levi returned with Eren, the young child hidden underneath a green scouting regiment cloak and was bundled into a wagon to take him inside the walls._

* * *

Unaware of what Eren was up to. Mikasa and Armin said on their cots, devising a plan to stop or at least delay Eren from joining the military.

“We’ve got to show him that joining the scouting regiment is a reckless idea that will only result in him getting killed or other people killed when they try to save him. We can’t let him sign up the second we do, then it’s game over for us,” Mikasa said. 

“No, that will never work, you saw Eren he didn’t bat an eyelash when he saw the injuries from the scouting regiment when they returned before Wall Maria was destroyed” Armin said, he was getting desperate, this last two years they’ve tried anything and everything to detour Eren from joining the military and Armin hated to admit it but he feels that everything they’ve said to turn Eren away has in fact convinced him even more that he has to join.

“Then what do we do!” Mikasa snapped, she was getting to the end of her tether with Eren and his desire to join the scouting regiment.

“We’ll just have to keep him occupied and distracted, so he doesn’t get the chance to think about enrolling until the enrollment season is over for this year and we will just have to repeat this until he gives up on wanting to be a soldier,” Armin said, it wasn’t the best idea he could think of but it was the only effective one. However, neither Armin nor Mikasa noticed when their room door opened and Eren slipped inside until he spoke up.

“You’re too late” he said startling Mikasa and Armin, both paled unaware how much Eren had heard of their conversation.

“What do you mean, Eren?” Armin asked warily.

“I’ve already signed up to the training corps, I went to Trost today. I didn’t tell you because I knew you would make a fuss and stop me from going, so I snuck out,” Eren explained. Armin felt his heart freeze as Eren lifted his paperwork, showing that they had assigned him to the southern training corps outside Trost.

“No! You’re not going, we’re taking you back to the Trost Recruitment Centre and saying that you’ve changed your mind,” Mikasa demanded. She couldn’t believe Eren would do this behind their backs.

“Why are you so insistent that I’m not allowed to join the Military? You’ve both know that it’s been my dream since I started living with you” Eren pleaded. He was tired of having the same argument again and again. He was joining the military whether or not they wanted him to. He was already signed up and ready to ship out to the training corps, all he needed was his few belongings and then he was ready to go.

“No, you’re not allowed! You’ll die!” Mikasa snapped.

“Eren, we’re the only family the three of us have. We don’t want to lose you is all” Armin said, trying to defuse the rising tension between Mikasa and Eren. Armin was getting worried that Eren would try to fight Mikasa, not that Armin had ever seen Eren fight that is but Eren just sighed and flopped down onto his cot pulling his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

“You don’t get it do you” Eren whispered so quietly that Armin at first wasn’t sure if Eren had spoken, Mikasa opened her mouth to argue but Armin held his hand up before motioning for Eren to continue, he wanted to hear what Eren was going to say, it was best to hear both sides. Eren never spoke about his reasonings for joining the Scouting Regiment, whenever Armin or Mikasa had tried to find out Eren would just clamp up and refuse to say anything after that, it was like he was forbidden from telling anyone why.

“I have two years and six months’ worth of memories. I have no idea who I am or who I was, I don’t know when my birthday is, I don’t know who my parents are, I don’t know if I have any siblings and if they’re still alive, I don’t know if I’m strong or weak, I don’t know if I’m a sociable or shy person, I don’t know if I previously had many friends or maybe none. I know nothing about myself expect my name which doesn’t tell me much, anyway. I feel like a shell of a person, I feel like I’m a nobody with no personality, no identity. I am nothing. I want to join the military because I need something in my life, something constant. If I become a soldier, I become someone. I become Eren Yeager, a soldier fighting for humanity, I then have a part of my identity. I hate feeling like this anymore, I need a purpose and being soldier will give me that purpose,” Eren said, he felt a little better getting that off his chest, he hoped that if Mikasa and Armin could understand what he was feeling all the time, then they would stop and think that maybe just maybe, Eren needed this more than they realised.

“No, I won’t let you. If you join the scouting regiment, then you will go outside the walls and you will die. I will not allow you the throw your life away like that” Mikasa snapped. Being a soldier wasn’t the only way for someone to get a purpose or gain some sense of identity. When they had enough money that they could start working in a better job than Eren could gain some identity. He didn’t need to become a soldier to do that. 

“I would rather die as a somebody then live as a nobody” Eren snapped before standing up and started collecting the few possessions he owned and put them into a bag.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Mikasa asked.

“I told you, I’ve signed up to the training corps. The wagon leaves tonight. I only came back to get my things and tell the landowner I’m leaving. It’s up to you if you plan to join me or stay here. If you stay then I guess this is goodbye, I’ll write but I can’t promise it will be consistent,” Eren said shrugging his shoulders before walking out his quarters one last time.

“We have to stop him getting on that wagon” Mikasa snapped jumping to her feet ready to run out their cramp quarters and pull Eren back kicking and screaming if she had to.

“No Mika, that will just cause a rift between us and Eren. He’s signed up and if we stop him, then he’ll might hate us, think about it, it took him signing up behind our backs to tell us how he feels. If we do something that drastic then he’ll feel that we don’t care how he feels. If we join the military with him, then maybe we can convince him that the Garrisons or the Military Police is the better option for him,” Armin suggested, if they didn’t want to lose Eren then they would have to play along with his dream to join the scouting regiment and slowly and carefully convince him to choose another regiment. They knew Eren the best out of everyone, how hard could it be to change one-person mind.

* * *

Eren refused to say anything to his companions as they left the fields for the last time and headed into Trost and towards the Trost Recruitment Centre where the wagon was already waiting. Eren quickly showed the soldier his paperwork whilst Mikasa and Armin went to enlist, both visibly wincing as Eren continued to ignore them. The soldier took one quick look at Eren’s paperwork, his eyes widening when he noticed that the kid in front of him had been recommend by Captain Levi before moving aside and motioning for Eren to climb into the wagon. Eren quickly shoved the papers into his bag as he climbed inside the wagon. He noticed there were already five other occupants. A small blonde-haired girl who was sitting next to taller girl with brown hair whilst a buzz-shaved boy sat beside her. On the opposite side of the wagon sat two more boys, one bulky blonde and a tall brunette.

Eren gave them a quick nod before taking the only available seat next to the boy with the buzz cut, leaving two spaces opposite for Armin and Mikasa. He knew he was being petty, but he just really didn’t want to deal with them for the rest of the day. If they saw that their behaviour was going to drive them apart then maybe they’ll stop. It didn’t take much longer until Armin and Mikasa climbed aboard the wagon started moving.

“I’m Christa Lenz, what’s your name” the blonde-haired girl said with a smile on her face which Eren couldn’t help but feel like it was forced.

“I’m Armin Arlert, this is Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager,” Armin introduced the three of them.

“I’m Sasha Blouse and have you got any food on you because well I’m starving, and I haven’t eaten for the last hour,” the other girl said, her eyes darted from one person to another before finally settling her eyes on Eren.

“I’m sorry, we brought nothing. I’m sure there is food at the training camp though,” Eren said.

“Don’t worry about her, she can eat anything. I’m Connie, Connie Springer, and I’m planning on joining the Military Police!” Connie stated proudly whilst Eren resisted the urge to roll his eyes. All people ever wanted was to join the Military Police and live the comfortable life. It made him sick that they were happy to live their lives as cattle behind these walls until the next titan attack. They needed to be prepared for when the Colossal and Armoured Titan appeared once more to break down Wall Rose or Wall Sina.

The reason they weren’t prepared the last time was because they didn’t believe that a titan bigger than the walls even existed.

“I’m Reiner Braun and this cutie pie is the love of my life Bertholdt Hoover” the bulky blonde guy said wrapping an arm around the taller but skinnier brunette and pulled him against Reiner’s chest. Eren watched as Bertholdt’s cheeks redden as he whispered

‘Reiner’ obviously use to the blonde being this way.

“Aww, what regiment are you planning on joining?” Christa asked, “I was hoping maybe the garrisons, I don’t think I have what it takes to get into the top ten”.

“We’re aiming for the Military Police, I wanna give Bertholdt the best life we can get. My boyfriend deserves only the best,” Reiner answered, kissing Bertholdt’s already red cheeks.

“Aww that’s so sweet, Sasha, where do you want to go?” Christa said turning to look at the girl beside her.

“I want to join the Military Police; I’ve heard they get the best food and a constant supply of meat,” Sasha said, practically drooling at the thought.

“What about you three?” Connie asked.

“I’m joining the scouting regiment” Eren stated before Armin or Mikasa could try to speak for him. Connie’s eyes widened as the other trainee cadets stared at Eren.

“But that’s practically suicide,” Connie announced, “anyone who joins the scouting regiment, they don’t last long”.

“I don’t care, I would rather join the scouting regiment and die then stayed trapped like cattle behind these walls, that’s all we are. The colossal and armoured titans have already appeared once and broke Wall Maria what’s saying they won’t appear again and destroy Wall Rose or Wall Sina. We need to make the first move before they have the chance to strike again. It’s a cause I would proudly die for. I’m joining the scouting regiment and not one is stopping me,” Eren states his eyes darted over to Mikasa and Armin when he said the last bit, then underneath his breath he muttered, “I need this”.

No one dared speak for the rest of the journey, Eren had truly ruined any comfortable atmosphere and instead he stared at his hands hoping that the next three years were going to be anything like this. 

* * *

When they arrived at the training corps they hurried all cadets off the wagons and into the barracks to get changed. Once everyone was in their new training corps uniform and forced to line up in rows of twenty as their new commandant stood in front of them shouting, Eren couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Shadis, it seems like the old commander hadn’t changed a bit since Eren first met him all those years ago. He wouldn’t be surprised if soldiers don’t start dropping out by tonight. It’s difficult putting up with Shadis’ brash personality. And it definitely didn’t help that Shadis was shouting in other people’s faces as he walked down the lines.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU” Shadis shouted once he reached Armin, Eren couldn’t help but feel sorry for his friend whilst Mikasa seem to glare.

“Armin Arlert, from Shiganshina District,” Armin replied.

“I see! That’s a ridiculous name! Did your parents give it to you?!” Shadis sneered and Mikasa's glare deepened. Eren wonder whether Mikasa would snap and attack Shadis. He knew Shadis could handle his own against Mikasa after all he took Titans down for a living before becoming a commandant. This was probably a walk in the park compared to that. 

“My grandfather did, Sir!” Armin replied.

“ARLERT! WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Shadis screamed, his face baring down on Armin’s waiting for the boy to snap and start crying.

“To help humanity achieve victory!” Armin said.

“That’s wonderful to hear! We can feed you to the Titans!” Shadis snapped before pushing past Armin to get to the next row.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU”.

“Jean Kirschstein, from Trost District!” the two-toned hair boy said who, now Eren thought about it, he looks a lot like a horse.

“WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?”.

“To join the Military Police Regiment and live in the interior!” Jean said.

“Oh. You wanna live in the interior, do you?” Shadis said, and Eren had to hold back a smirk from appearing on his face. He could guess what was going to happen. 

“Yes!” Jean replied before Shadis head butted him causing Jean to fall to the floor in pain clutching his head. 

“Who said you could sit?! If you can’t handle this, you can forget about the Military Police!” Shadis snapped before once again moving onto his next victim. 

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Shadis said, glaring down at a freaked boy who somehow could smile back at the man even though Eren could tell there was fear present in his eyes.

“Marco Bodt of Jinae, on the south side of Wall Rose! I want to join the Military Police Regiment and give life and limb to the king!” Marco said, still smiling. 

“I see. That’s a fine goal. Go ahead and strive for it. But just so you know... The king doesn’t want your lousy life or limbs.” Shadis said, and Eren could feel the wince. How to crush someone’s dream in one easy step. He understood why Shadis was like this, not just because this was who he was, but everyone needed to understand that being a soldier wasn’t all fun and games once they left the corps. After Shadis berated the boy from earlier, Connie, Eren thinks his name was, then punished the girl – Sasha – for stealing a potato from the kitchen and sent her to run laps, Shadis headed back to the front of the group.

“RIGHT YOU LOUSY LOT, I WANT TWENTY LAPS BEFORE SUPPER… WHAT ARE YOU STILL STANDING HERE, GET MOVING. TITANS WOULD HAVE ALREADY EATEN YOU BY NOW! MOVE IT!” Shadis shouted, the new cadets let out a squeak before darting towards the track they were shown earlier, “EXPECT EREN YEAGER, STAY HERE”.

Eren froze and turned to look at Shadis whilst others shot him a sympathetic look. They probably believed that he was already in trouble. Eren wasn’t worried as he walked over to Shadis. He was fairly sure he knew what this was about. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the delay in uploading, I wanted to post this chapter three days ago but I struggled with writing some parts. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think in the comments!

Eren watched as everyone else ran over to the running track before making his way over to Shadis. He had a rough idea of what this conversation would be about. 

“I wouldn’t say it surprised me when I saw your name appear on my list for the maggots joining us this year. I had expected to see you eventually, you were skilled with the ODM gear during the short time you were with the Scouting Regiment, Erwin expected you would become a fine soldier. However, I never expected Levi would recommend you” Shadis said. After they returned inside the walls, they played Eren off as a scouting regiment’s soldier child whose parents had died during a mission outside the walls. With no family left, they were arranging suitable accommodation for the child. It worked for the time being and stopped people from asking questions, Hange, Levi, and Erwin spent most of their time looking after Eren and teaching him things about life inside the walls, Hange encouraged Eren to help with their titan experiments and Levi or Erwin taught him how to use the ODM gear. It wasn’t hard to say that the scouting regiment really didn’t know how to raise a child.

“If Levi didn’t recommend me, then I would have had to disclose that I suffer from amnesia, he said that would risk my chances of being accepted to become a soldier” Eren explained, he felt like he cheated the system somehow with Levi having to recommend him instead of applying the normal way and Eren knew that if people found out that humanities stronger had recommended Eren then it was going to bring unwanted attention on both of them especially if Mikasa and Armin found out, they had no idea that Eren knew Levi or anyone in the scouting regiment and he wanted to keep it that way. The fewer people who know about Eren’s past before coming to live with Carla, the better.

“I had wondered over these last few years whether you had regained any of your memories?” Shadis said he might have not visited the boy after he left the care of the scouting regiment, but it didn’t mean that Eren had left his mind. He constantly wondered what the kid was up to and whether he had regained any of his memories but from the letters he received from Carla, she had seen no changes in Eren’s behaviour that would warrant them believing Eren had regained his memories, they wouldn’t know unless he told them and Eren really didn’t like talking about his missing memories. 

“Nope, I’m still as blank as the day you met me. I guess it is part of the reason I wanted to become a soldier, I know hardly anything about myself, and being a soldier would give me some identity and I feel like I owe the scouting regiment for finding me outside the walls and looking after me… I’ve told no one this but… something is calling to me, telling me I need to go outside the walls, I must get to Wall Maria. I think it has something to do with my memories, whatever happened to me which made me lose my memories in the first place, I think it happened outside Wall Maria, I need to find out what and the only way to do that is becoming a soldier and joining the scouting regiment, once we’ve taken back Wall Maria maybe just maybe I’ll find out who I really am,” Eren explained, if anyone could understand his motivations then it was Shadis, the man had found a confused and scared little boy outside the walls. Shadis had spent hours looking for the right person to take Eren in so he would be cared for. Shadis knew what it was like to be a damaged person in a cruel world, and Shadis could accept him for that.

“You realise that the second you graduate in three years you will go straight to the scouting regiment, no week to celebrate gradating, nothing like that. The second you leave here; you are a soldier. Are you prepared for that?” Shadis said he knew that the week after graduating was the most important week to all the cadets, it let them act like children for one more week before forcing them into the life of a soldier but then again, had Eren even had a normal childhood after he lost his memories, he was with the scouting regiment for a month before living with Carla until the wall was breached where he had to live on farmlands and work constantly before joining up with the military. Now Shadis thought about it, the jump from a cadet to a soldier probably wouldn’t affect Eren as much as it did the others because his entire life had been going from one thing to another.

“To fight for humanity is something I would willingly give my life for,” Eren said.

“Good, I’m strict with the cadets and I will work them hard. Don’t expect just because I know you, I won’t treat you any different kid” Shadis said, he needed Eren to know this after all he had a reputation to uphold, he couldn’t be seen going soft on one cadet whilst being tough on the others although he was planning on testing Eren on the ODM gear away from the other cadets to see what the kid still remember.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way, Sir,” Eren said, and it was true, he didn’t want to be treated any differently to how the others were treated. He didn’t want to be the commandant pet, he wanted to earn his place as a soldier. He already had a slight advantage to the other cadets because he already knew how to use the ODM gear. Yes, he might be a little rusty, but he was sure he could easily pick it up again. Eren didn’t need any more advantages than he already had.

“NOW YEAGER, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! I WANT TWENTY LAPS BEFORE SUPPER! SO, STOP DAWDLING AND GET TO IT!” Shadis shouted after he couldn’t be seen favouring a cadet over the other maggots, no one was supposed to know that Shadis knew Eren before today although Shadis supposed if anyone asked he could use the same excuse they had used all those years ago. 

“Sir, yes sir!” Eren saluted before running off to the running track and started jogging around barely paying any attention to the cadets looking at him. They were probably wondering why Shadis had wanted to speak with him.

“Hey Eren, how did Commandant Shadis know your name?” Armin asked when Eren jogged up to them. He was already on his second lap, overtaking Armin and Mikasa once already before deciding to slow down and conserve his energy.

“Mum knew him, I met him twice. He just wanted to say that just because I know him, he would not treat me any differently to the other cadets” Eren said. He wasn’t really lying. Carla knew Shadis, just not in the way Armin or Mikasa might assume. They weren’t old friends or classmates. They met because Shadis had overheard that Carla had taken in two homeless children and he decided that she was their best bet at getting Eren into a suitable home. The first and only day they had met was the day she came to met Eren.

“If he does anything to hurt you Eren, I will kill him” Mikasa snapped. She swore to her adoptive mother that she would look after Eren and Armin and she wasn’t planning on breaking that deal, to dismiss Carla’s dying wish.

“Mikasa!” Eren said glaring at the black-haired girl, “If you try to pick fights with everyone then you can give up on being a soldier, a person is not fit to be a soldier if they keep fighting or ignoring the chain of command,”.

“I think what Mika is trying to say is, that we’ll look after each other” Armin said shooting a pointed look at Mikasa to stop her from saying anything else, Eren was obviously passionate about being a soldier, they could see that. So, saying anything which could upset Eren, might form a rift between them, and their plan to convince Eren to join another regiment would be unsuccessful. “Hey Eren, I’d admit for me joining to become a soldier was mostly spur of the moment, would you be able to help me look at the three regiments and help me choose which one might be the best fit for me?”.

“Sure” Eren agreed before picking up his pace when Shadis started shouting at them for being too slow. Armin watched as Eren swiftly darted around the other cadets before keeping up his pace beside the two male cadets from the wagon ride – Reiner and Bertholdt, Armin thinks their names were.

“See Mikasa, if we subtly hint at Eren to change his mind then it will be more effective than trying to force him to change his mind. This way Eren will see that the other regiments are much better for him and we won’t lose him. It’s a win-win for all of us,” Armin said after all they had three years to convince Eren to choose another regiment, they needed to be careful and plan out all their moves.

* * *

Eren wanted to fight titans, he was certain on that so; he didn’t understand why they had to learn this hand to hand combat stuff. It wasn’t like he could take down a titan with this or have a titan come at him with a knife. He’d been partnered up with Armin much to Mikasa protest, she needed to stop complaining or else she’ll have a one-way ticket back to the farmlands without Eren or Armin, well without Eren for definite, Armin might go back if the training becomes too much for him but Eren was determined to become a soldier if his friendship with Armin and Mikasa suffered because of it then, he really couldn’t find it in himself to complain everything in life came with sacrifices. Mikasa might be built like an ox, but she wasn’t unstoppable. Not when someone had the power to decide who becomes a soldier and who returns home.

Eren stood there holding the wooden knife they had given him by one instructor, listening to Armin’s spiel about the theory behind hand to hand combat. He was slowly deciding whether he should attack Armin or just wait until he’s finished talking, it’s not like Eren even knew how to fight, he’s never had a reason too and he wasn’t taught it by Levi, Hange, or Erwin when he was with the scouting regiment.

“YEAGER GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE NOW!”. Eren jumped when he heard Shadis shout, Shadis wasn’t even meant to be teaching them hand to hand combat so why the hell was he here. Eren shared a confused look with Armin before tossing the wooden knife to his friend and jogged over to the commandant. All the cadets had learned quickly that Shadis was not someone to get on the wrong side of. “Follow me, Yeager”.

Eren quietly followed Shadis away from the training area and towards the ODM gear storage shed.

“You won’t be taking part in the balancing on the gear later today, I’ve informed the other instructors that your parents were members of the scouting regiment who died outside the walls and whilst in the care of Captain Levi, Squad Leader Hange Zoe, and then Squad Leader Erwin Smith you were taught how to use the ODM gear. They seem to buy it and won’t ask questions. Now, I need to test you to see how much you still remember,” Shadis explained, unlocking the door to the ODM gear shed, “your gear is inside. Put it on, then we’re going to do a simple course. There are ten dummy titans hidden throughout the forest, you have five minutes to find and slice the napes of all ten titans,”.

Eren nodded. The test was easy enough; he knew he could do it in less than five minutes, Levi had hammered it in that speed was important when learning how to use the ODM gear. The faster you move, the harder it is for the titan to grab you. It had taken three long days, but Eren finally learned how to minimise his gas usage but maximise his speed when fighting the dummy titans. It felt odd yet liberating as he put his ODM gear on after two years. It felt like the gear was a second skin to him, that it felt right to have the familiar weight on his hips once more. Once Eren was sure he had his gear on correctly, he exited the shed and walked over to the forest where Shadis was now waiting.

“Five minutes starting now”. Eren initially expected to struggle to maneuver through the forest after all it had been two years since he had last used the ODM gear but that wasn’t the case, he glided through the forest using his instincts to find the titan dummies, deeply slicing their napes whenever he found them. Everything felt so natural. It felt like it was only yesterday that he was saying goodbye to the scouting regiment and having to give up his wings. He loves the feeling of soaring through the sky like a bird. When he used the gear, he felt free. Yes, he wasn’t as fast as he had been, but once he gets used to using the ODM gear frequently, then Eren was sure he would be back to his normal speed by the end of the week.

The rest of the course was easy enough, it’s not like they could really hide the bulky form of a titan behind a tree. Eren quickly sliced the napes of all the titan dummies, keeping a mental tally in his head as he took down each one, when he was confident he had reached ten, he sheathed his blades and returned to Shadis with a smug look on his face.

“Not bad kid, look likes you still remember your stuff, now put your gear away. You can help set up the equipment for your fellow cadets. Unlike you, they didn’t get the scouting regiment rough regime to ODM gear training,” Shadis said before walking off. Eren sighed, it looked like Shadis was taking what he said seriously, which meant he was going to work Eren down to the bone. Jeez, can’t the guy give him a break? “C’MON YEAGER, NOT SLACKING! YOU WANT TO FIGHT TITANS THEN PICK THE PACE UP!”.

* * *

It was odd watching the other cadets as some struggled to get to grasp with balancing on the ODM gear. It made Eren wonder whether he looked like that the first time he used the belt; he remembered wobbling a little bit slowly eased into it. Although he found using the ODM gear easier than balancing with it. Most of the cadets seemed to be a natural in the belt, Mikasa, Reiner, Horseface, Sasha, Marco, and the freckled girl whilst others Connie, Armin, Bertholdt, and Christa struggled at first but soon got the hang of it whilst the other cadets just flat out failed at it, falling face first and barely missed hitting their heads on the ground.

He was getting some weird looks as he helped connect the wires to the cadets’ belts and hoisted them up but didn’t take part in it himself. He knew that Mikasa and Armin would question him on it later and Eren honestly couldn’t come up with any idea what he could say, if he used his fake backstory about his ‘parents’ being a part of the scouting regiment then they would know it was a lie since Carla told them that Eren couldn’t remember who his parents were and he can’t tell them that the scouting regiment trained him to use the gear because that would open up a whole can of worms but for now Eren kept his distance. He could figure out all the finer details later.

* * *

Eren honestly didn’t know what the horseface’s problem was, he had been glaring at Eren since the last person tried to balance on the machine before they were dismissed for supper. He knew that people were confused to why Eren hadn’t done it and he really wasn’t prepared for Armin and Mikasa’s interrogation that he knew he was going to suffer when they were alone but he knew for now he was safe because they wouldn’t dare confront him about it in front of people they didn’t know or trust. So, Eren just had to make it through supper with everyone else asking questions.

“Come to think of it, we have heard nothing about where you’re from?” the freckled boy – Marco, Eren thinks his name was, asked.

“I’m from Shiganshina, same as him” Eren replied nodding his head over in Armin’s direction, it wasn’t like it was a complete lie but still Eren didn’t truly know where he was from, which wall or district he lived in. Eren guessed it was another unanswered question that joined up in the mess which was his life post-memory loss. 

“Oh. That means…” Marco said trailing off since he really didn’t want to bring back any horrible memories of that day.

“You were there that day, weren’t you?” Connie said grinning like an idiot, “did you see the Colossal Titan?”.

“Yeah, we saw it” Eren shrugged. The day he saw the Colossal titan would forever haunt him. He lost someone important to him and he was stupid enough that if it weren’t for Armin getting Hannes, then Eren would have gotten himself and Mikasa killed. 

“Really! How big is it?” another boy – Thomas asked.

“Big enough to look over the wall,” he said. The surrounding cadets dissolved into chatter saying how they had heard that the colossal titan seemed to step over the wall whilst others started pestering him with what it looked like, “it had a huge mouth, and almost no skin”.

“What about the Armored Titan that broke Wall Maria?” Connie asked. He had heard that the Armored Titan was 20 meters tall and was covered from head to toe in muscle. Another story was that it was the same height as the Colossal Titan and could crush the wall just by stepping on it. 

“Huh, that’s what people are calling it, but it looked like any ordinary titan to me,” Eren said although his experience with ‘ordinary’ titans was quite limited from a decomposing one that Shadis had saved him from to the two titans Hange was experimenting on to the Colossal and Smiling titans that invaded Wall Maria, he wasn’t that close to the Armored Titan to see what it looked like.

“Th-then what are ordinary titans like?” Connie asked as Eren went to have another mouthful of food but froze as his mind was assaulted with a memory. Eren half expected to be dragged into the memory of watching his mother, watching Carla being eaten by that smiling titan, but he saw something else, a memory he didn’t recognise as his own.

_“Hey big bro, are you sure it’s safe? What if, what if I don’t turn back” a young boy asked looking up at his older brother? The brothers were wearing their military uniforms as they climbed down the hidden steps underneath the military building. They had summoned the child today to take something from a traitor, leading another rebellion against the government and military. This day was something he had been training for all his life ever since he found out his older brother had successfully become a warrior candidate but now he was scared, what if something went wrong and he was trapped inside that form forever, what if he missed and killed the traitor before he could inherit his power and it was transferred to a newborn baby instead?_

_“Eren, we’ve done this thousands of times. This is set up to make sure that you will inherit that traitors’ powers” Zeke said trying to reassure his brother, he understood where Eren was coming from, when he inherited his powers, he to felt nervous and anxious that something would go wrong but everything had worked out fine then and it would do now._

_“Are you sure, Zeke?” Eren said._

_“Do you trust me, Eren?” Zeke asked._

_“Of course! You protected and saved me when Mum and Dad turned out to be traitors. You looked after me all this time Zeke and helped me when I wanted to become a warrior, there is no one I trust more than you” Eren declared, he loved his brother more than anything and he guessed if Zeke said that the process was safe and that nothing would go wrong then Eren had no reason to doubt him. His big brother Zeke would always protect him._

“It doesn’t matter,” Eren said. What the hell had that memory? Did he have an older brother and if so, where was he? And what the hell did he mean about inheriting a traitor’s power? What traitor? What power? And why were his parents’ traitors, he was so confused? Nothing made sense anymore, but what the hell could Eren do? He had no idea on who or how to find this Zeke person, if he was still alive that was. “Titans aren’t actually that big of a deal once we’ve mastered the ODM gear, then they’ll be nothing to us! I’m going to join the Scouting Regiment to fight titans”.

“You want to join the scouting regiment, yet you didn’t even do that balancing test earlier. If you aren’t able to use the gear, then you’ll be useless against titans” Jean said, it had irritated him to no end how Yeager didn’t take part in balancing test and when he tried to ask the instructors about it, they just brushed it off like it wasn’t important, was no one taking this seriously. If Yeager tries to use the equipment without knowing how to balance on it, then he risks hurting others when he loses control.

“I already know how to use the ODM gear, that’s why I was pulled out of the hand to hand combat. Anyway, it doesn’t matter whether or not I can fight titans, at least I’m not running away like a coward to the Military Police like you,” Eren said. He would not pick fights with someone because they couldn’t and wouldn’t understand his circumstances, he’ll just shut this conversation down before it turns into a one-sided fight.

“You know how to use the ODM gear please, that’s the funny thing I’ve heard all day” Jean snapped, Yeager was driving him up the wall, he could feel his blood boiling and he wanted nothing more than to just punch that good for nothing idiot in the face.

“Listen, I don’t want to argue with you. What regiment I want to join is my business anyway, unlike you, I had a recommendation to join the military. I will join the scouting regiment at the end of these three years; I don’t have the choice like you lot do. Now, I don’t fancy getting into an argument with someone I have to be around for the next three years so let's just leave it here,” Eren said, ignoring the horrified looks he was getting from Armin and Mikasa, he shouldn’t be surprised, he knew they were still holding out for him to change his mind and he had decided that he would play along with them until graduation when they would originally find out about his fixed place with the scouting regiment.

“Eren don’t say that you have a choice to choose what regiment you want to join,” Armin said a little panicked whilst Mikasa just stared. She couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t. She had to save Eren, she had to.

“I wanted to join the scouting regiment anyway so for me it doesn’t matter whether or not I could choose,” Eren said looking away from Armin and at the table instead. He felt bad honestly, he knew Armin and Mikasa had only signed up to the military because of him but by now they should know him better than anyone, he would not let this opportunity slip away from him, he just can’t.

“Are you insane?” Jean said. Eren just shrugged.

“Who knows, I have my reasons as I’m sure you have yours horseface”. That was it! Jean snapped, lunging for Eren, his fist clenched and ready to punch Eren’s face, but his hand hit nothing. Eren had already moved, dodging out the way. Jean turned to strike again but Eren was already bringing his knee up, slamming it into Jean’s stomach, winding the other boy before Eren dropped and kicked Jean’s feet out from underneath him, sending Jean crashing to the floor. Everyone just stared, their eyes going from the withering Jean to Eren.

‘What the hell’ Eren thought, looking at his hands in horror. How could he have done that; he didn’t know how to fight, so how could he have pulled off those moves. When he was fighting, it felt like a completely different person was in control. But that can’t be right. What was happening to him, who the hell was he becoming, someone who started fighting strangers? Eren refused to look at anyone as he quickly spat out an apology to Jean and darted out the Mess Hall. One thing was running through his mind.

‘Who the hell was I before losing my memories’.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter focuses on Eren's time with the scouting regiment to being adopted by Carla.

~Two years and six months ago~

Eren was terrified. Hardly a day had passed since he was found by Commander Shadis and was brought inside the walls, and everything already felt too much for him. He recognised nothing, Shadis wanted him to look at Shiganshina when they passed through to see whether he recognised the place, hoping it would trigger his memories, but there was nothing. He didn’t know anyone who was booing at the Scouting Regiment or did he remember the buildings they passed, his mind stayed blank as he travelled through unknown territory to the Scouting Regiment Headquarters.

When they arrived, Eren was quickly hurried off the wagon by Hange and Erwin whilst the members of the scouting regiment focused on emptying the wagons and taking the horses back to their stables to rest. Erwin had offered his quarters to hide the boy in when Commander Shadis decided what they were going to do with him. Eren was terrified for what would happen next, he knew he couldn’t stay with the scouting regiment, from the whispering he heard between Mike and Erwin, he knew that as soon as they returned to their headquarters Eren would be sent somewhere else and the little normality and safety he felt now would be taken away from him. He would lose everything just like he lost his memories.

* * *

Commander Shadis called a meeting with Erwin, Mike, Hange and Levi as soon as they returned to their headquarters, he had plenty of business to attend to, informing the soldiers family members of those loved one’s deaths and he needed to plan the scouting regiments next steps, the last thing he needed was more work on top of everything else. He needed to find a home for Eren quickly.

“We need to find Eren a home quickly, we can’t keep a child here. It will get too suspicious,” Shadis said to the squad leaders. They were the only people he trusted enough that they wouldn’t say anything to soldiers in their squads or accidentally reveal it to the Military Police. They knew the risks better than anyone else.

“Commander, I have thought of a cover story for Eren. What if we say that he is a child to a member of the scouting regiment who died during the recent expedition, it would explain why he’s here and if we say that he had no extended family then there wouldn’t be questions to why he’s not living with grandparents? The only issue is that it wouldn’t explain his memory loss so it would only work around the scouting regiment, not the family who takes him in therefore we would have to be truthful about what happened to him to an extent,” Erwin explained and Shadis nodded his head, if anyone could come up with a working plan to protect the kid without having to keep him hidden inside their quarters it would be Erwin, his Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation had been such a success in this mission and they hadn’t lost as many casualties as they usually did during an expedition.

“That could work, it would also take pressures off us to find the kid a home quickly” Shadis said mostly to himself, he honestly had no idea where he could start looking for a home for Eren, it’s not like there was a proper system to what happens if a child loses their homes and family, normally they would go to any extended family member or close friends.

“Why can’t we just give him to the Military Police now we’re back inside the walls? If Eren doesn’t tell anyone where we found him then they could find him a home,” Mike suggested, it’s not like the Scouting Regiment is the ideal place to look after a child.

“The Military Police hate doing extra work. If we hand the brat over to them, then he’ll end up on the streets or in the underground by the end of the week” Levi snapped, he might not care for the brat but he would not let him end up in the underground with no memories or any way to protect himself. No one like that would survive in that place. The brat would be dead before his first day in the underground was over.

“So that settles that issue. Now we need to find a home for the kid. Any suggestions?”.

* * *

“Um… Mr Levi, why am I on this?” Eren asked, looking down at the ODM belt which was attached to some cables on another device. Eren honestly did not understand what was going on, one second he was reading a book in Erwin’s Quarters and the next Mr Levi and Hange came storming in and dragged him out of the room and towards the training grounds giving Eren hardly any time to put his book down without losing the page. Hange had excitingly thrown Eren a belt. Then Levi snapped sharp instructions on how to put it on before hooking him up to this machine.

“We need to keep you occupied during your stay here and since this regiment isn’t designed to have children here, then we will have to train you like a soldier. First, you will need to learn how to use the ODM gear, it is your lifeline when fighting titans, if you can’t use it then your titan food,” Levi snapped standing by a handle whilst Hange observed from in front of Eren.

“Don’t be such a grump, Levi! Don’t listen to him, Eren! This machine will just test your stability in the gear, if you can balance then you can learn how to use the ODM gear, it’s how we work out who is suitable to become a soldier and who isn’t,” Hange explained and Eren nodded, although he didn’t know why they wanted him to learn this, it wasn’t like he had plans to become a soldier after all he hardly knew what he was doing now let alone what he’s going to do in the future, “Now Levi will lift you up and if you balance then we can move on, if not we’re here to help you learn how to. It can feel a little weird at first but just relax into the belt and try not to put too much weight on the front or the back of the belt or you will tip,”.

Eren gulped as Hange signalled for Levi to lift Eren up. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, and he clenched his eyes shut. He didn’t want to see himself being lifted off the ground. He didn’t like it at all, and it took all his strength to keep his arms and legs under control and not to flail them around aimlessly. He needed to relax, but how could he, this felt unnatural to him. He was a firm believer that his feet should stay on the floor, well he thought he was. Now that he thought about it, who was he really, a child found wandering the forest outside the walls with no memories. A boy who couldn’t remember anything other than his name. A boy who was practically a blank slate. A boy who was relying on the help of the scouting regiment just to survive. Did he even have that right, he had somehow got outside the walls and then needed the scouting regiment to rescue him from a titan who was about to eat him. Maybe it was better if he had died. He wouldn’t be a burden on the rest of the scouting regiment. No, he couldn’t think like that, the scouting regiment helped people, from what Erwin had told him, the scouting regiment risked their lives to save humanity from the titans. They were now working to find him a new home or his family, so the least he could do is to do what they asked, if they wanted him to learn how to use to ODM gear then he would use all his strength to learn it.

Eren took a deep breath before opening his eyes, Hange was staring at him in complete awe which made Eren frown slightly, wondering what they were looking at until he realised that he was balancing on the gear. It felt so natural to him, like it was another part of his body.

“You’re a natural Eren!” Hange squealed as Levi lowered to boy down, “now it’s time to learn how to use that gear,”.

All Eren could do was groan as he followed Mr Levi and Hange into the woods.

* * *

Hange was the weirder one out of the trio who oversaw looking after him. They spent most of their time talking about Titans with this look in their eyes, Eren wasn’t sure how he would describe the look Hange got whenever they or someone else mentioned the T-word around them but it did kind of scare Eren a little. Hange was passionate about the man-eating monsters, that it was the only thing they spoke about whilst Hange was with well anyone, Eren was sure that he knew more about the creatures outside the walls than he did about life inside the walls. He knew the different names for them; he knew the titans only weak spot; he knew the behaviours they showed; he knew how to capture them. Hell, Eren knew about the process Hange goes through trying to name any of the titans the scouting regiment capture and brought inside the walls. He knew so much about the titans that Eren shouldn’t have been surprised when Hange approached him after a week of being with the scouting regiment with them asking whether Eren wanted to help Hange and Moblit with an experiment. 

Experimenting on titans was weird to say the least, it was his second time coming face to face with one of those monsters since he was found outside the walls and helping Moblit run around after Hange making sure that the Squad Leader didn’t get too close to the titan’s jaw and helping with small tests like timing how long it took for the titan to regenerate depending on their injury or how long it took the titan to recover when they were restricted from the amount of sunlight they had each day. It made him wonder how his life had changed so much in such a short space of time; he went from this child who was trapped outside the walls with no memories, who was saved by the skin of his teeth by Commander Shadis before he could become titan chow and now he was helping the squad leader of the researcher section with experiments on their newest captured titan but he couldn’t fault it, in fact he enjoyed spending time with Hange and Moblit, he enjoyed helping them out with their experiments; he enjoyed learning about this new world. Whilst Hange talked about the titans, Moblit would try to explain their world to Eren which was honestly a little hard since Moblit had no idea that Eren was found outside the walls and believed like the rest of the scouting regiments that his parents had died on the previous expedition and he had no other family to go to and that he didn’t know much.

No matter how weird Hange was, he knew that he was going to miss them the most. Mr Erwin and Mr Levi still treated him like a child who didn’t know any better whilst Hange spent any of their free time with Eren helping him adapt to life inside the walls, hell they even knew how scared Eren really was about living with a normal family again, how he was scared that he wouldn’t be able to fit in because he was so different compared to everyone else, what if his memory loss freaked the other children out so they didn’t want to be around him? It kept him up at night trying to imagine what would happen next, what would his life be like, but he knew he couldn’t focus on that Hange had promised that when they had the chance, they would visit Eren as often as they could. He knew that no matter what happened in this world, he could always count on them.

* * *

It had been two months since Eren was found outside the walls and brought inside, two months since he started living with the scouting regiment whilst Commander Shadis searched and searched for somewhere he could stay and now today he was leaving, leaving the little normality he had behind and moving in with a woman he barely knew and a child he had never met. According to Shadis he found Carla Morgan by word of mouth, he had travelled to the Shiganshina District and overheard two waitresses talking about how Carla had adopted Mikasa Ackerman, a young girl roughly the same age as Eren who became an orphan after her parents were killed by bandits and she was nearly sold into slavery. After finding out where Carla lived Shadis wrote a letter to the woman expressing how he had a child who needed homing, Carla agreed to meet Shadis who explained a water down version of what had happened to Eren, they had found him abandoned with no memories but the child knew his name. But Carla was much smarter than Shadis was expecting, not that he believed that the woman was dumb, he just never expected someone to challenging him on the story. Carla had demanded to be told the truth or she wouldn’t help, she pointed out all the problems in Shadis story before standing up getting ready to leave; she told Shadis how she didn’t want him to waste her time if he refused to be honest, she couldn’t welcome a child into her home without knowing everything that had happened to him after all she had another child to protect who had already gone through a devastating time she couldn’t risk Mikasa getting hurt.

Shadis knew he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, if he refused to tell Carla then she would walk and he would be back to square one with finding Eren a home but if he told her, then there was a chance she wouldn’t believe him and leave. And even if he told her, he couldn’t risk her telling others about what he had said and the Military Police turning up at their door so instead he got her to sign a confidentiality agreement so she wouldn’t tell anyone anything that Shadis told her before explaining Eren situation, how he was found outside the walls in the clutches of a titan, how they had smuggled the boy back inside the walls still confused how he even got outside there in the first place, Shadis explained how he needed to find a home for Eren because the scouting regiment wasn’t the ideal place to raise a child. Carla didn’t want to believe it at first, that a child had somehow escaped the walls and even if it was for a short time, he had experienced the horror of the outside world. She then demanded to meet the child, and Shadis escorted her to Erwin’s quarters where Eren was staying.

* * *

Eren jumped when he heard the bedroom door swing open, he wasn’t expecting Erwin back so soon and he had nothing arranged with Levi or Hange. It quite surprised him to see Commander Shadis stood there with a brown-haired woman he didn’t recognise.

“You must be Eren,” the woman said walking into the room and sat in front of Eren on Erwin’s bed, “I’m Carla and I’ll be taking you to live with me soon. Is that alright?”.

“Taking me where?” Eren asked a little nervous, it scared him the thought that they would take away him from what he was used to and forced into the unknown.

“I’m from the Shiganshina District, it is a town on the south edge of Wall Maria, you will come to live with me and my adoptive daughter Mikasa, she’s about your age,” Carla said.

“Does that mean I can’t…. talk to my friends anymore?” Eren gulped, he hated the idea that he might lose his friends.

“Friends?” Carla questioned, from what Commander Shadis had told her Eren didn’t remember his past unless the boy had become friends with any children from a nearby village, but Carla couldn’t remember there being any villages in these parts.

“Squad Leader Hange and Moblit, Captain Levi and Squad Leader Erwin too I guess” Eren replied, he had become close with the mad scientist and their assistant and he got along with Levi and Erwin too so he would miss them when he leaves. 

“We can write them letters if you want and they are always welcome to visit when they can” Carla said with a small smile on her face.

“Really” Eren said his eyes widened in surprise as he threw himself at Carla wrapping his arms around her neck, “thank you! Thank you, thank you”.

“You’re welcome Eren, Commander Shadis told me you don’t remember much so I would never want you to stop seeing the people you have got a connection to,” Carla said hugging the boy back, “Hey Eren why don’t we make a deal, if I help you with writing these letters would you keep it a secret. You shouldn’t never be ashamed of whom you are friends with but sometimes it’s best to keep it to yourself, people might not see the scouting regiment in the same light as you do and I don’t want you to get hurt, it would be for the best for now if you don’t tell anyone about being found outside the walls or living with and knowing the members of the scouting regiment. Just to keep you and your new friends safe, okay?”.

“Deal!” Eren grinned before jumping off the bed and darted out the room, he needed to tell Hange and Moblit the good news. Carla laughed as she watched the boy go, for someone who has already been through a lot he didn’t act like it but maybe he was that good at hiding it, she knew Mikasa had learnt to hide her emotions from everyone other than her friend Armin and Carla. Maybe Eren had learnt that as well, for now it didn’t matter hopefully in time Eren will slowly open up to her when he sees that he can trust her just as much as he does with this Hange and Moblit people.

* * *

That was a week ago, Carla had left not long after meeting Eren before she had to return home to Mikasa. When she departed, she promised Eren that she would return for him after sorting out a few necessities she needed before she could take on the responsibility of looking after another child. Carla arrived around ten in the morning, giving Eren enough time to pack his things and say goodbye to those he had gotten close with. She found Eren waiting outside the entrance of the scouting regiment headquarters with Commander Shadis and four others who Carla could only assume were the soldiers who had looked after Eren during his time here.

“Aww I can’t believe you’re leaving us Eren and there was so much I still wanted to do with you” Hange said as Carla approached them. She noticed a small bag was slung over Eren’s back which must contain all his belongings. Eren laughed.

“Miss Carla said you can come visit whenever you’re free, you can come tell me about all the experiments you’ve done!” Eren said cheerfully before wrapping his arms around Hange’s middle to give them a hug.

“Now how can I resist such a tempting offer” Hange said, smiling as they returned Eren’s hug.

“So, you’ll come” Eren asked, a little worried.

“haha of course Eren, you don’t get rid of me that easily!” Hange said grinning as Eren let go and looked up at them.

“Eren we will have to leave soon, it is a few hours on the boat to reach Shiganshina and I can’t leave Mikasa alone for too long,” Carla said, she hated to interrupt Eren saying his goodbyes but the longer they stayed here the harder it would get for Eren to leave them behind, “I’m sure if they have the chance your friends could come visit next month to see how you’ve settled in,”.

“Promise” Eren said, looking at Hange and Moblit, but he let his eyes trial over to Levi and Erwin too.

“I’ll be there, and I’ll drag the others kicking and screaming if it have too” Hange promised giving the boy another hug before stepping back allowing him to say goodbye to Moblit, Levi and Erwin. Moblit embraced the boy and told him to behave for Carla, whilst Erwin ruffled Eren’s hair and Levi snapped a ‘good riddance’ before tiding up the mess of Eren’s hair which Erwin made.

“See you later, Kid” Commander Shadis said, putting his hand on top of Eren’s head before pushing him over to Carla.

“Thank you for saving me, Commander Shadis!” Eren said, smiling up at the commander.

“You’re welcome kid, now go before you miss your boat”. Eren nodded, giving everyone an enormous wave as he ran off after Carla. He refused to turn around, scared to see his home for the last few months disappear into the distance. Instead, he kept his head held high as he took each step towards his new life.

Eren had never been on a boat before, he watched from the edge as it moved through the water barely paying attention to what Carla was telling him, when he came inside the walls he didn’t get to see all this, he kept moving his head around frantically trying to take everything in at once not wanting to miss anything. He said nothing; he didn’t know what to say, there were so many questions buzzing through his head about what was waiting for him in his new life but at the same time he still wanted to enjoy what he could, he wanted to enjoy this peace whilst it lasted before the boat arrived at their destination and when it did Eren realised something he hadn’t noticed before. Shiganshina was huge, it didn’t look as big from the little he saw when they travelled through, but now he was standing in it; he felt so tiny and he was positive that he was going to get lost with all the turns they were taking to get to Carla’s house from the city gate they entered through.

“Don’t worry about getting lost, I’d never send you to get anything if you weren’t confident that you could get back home. How about tomorrow, I take you on a tour of the district whilst I run a few errands,” Carla said as if she could sense Eren’s unease, Eren nodded maybe if he stuck to Carla’s side whenever she went out he would slowly feel more confident in navigating his way around this place?

“This is my and now your home” she said as they turned around one last corner to a small house perched above some steps. Carla squeezed Eren’s arm with reassurance before pushing open the door and she stepped inside with Eren following closely behind her.

“Mikasa, I’m back… oh hello Armin, I didn’t realise you were here too,” Carla greeted a young girl with black hair who was sat beside a blonde-haired boy who looked the same age. It wasn’t until now that Eren’s worries settled in. What if they don’t like him, what if they think he’s weird? Eren grabbed the back of Carla’s dress and tried to hide behind the woman, “oh Eren, there’s nothing to be worried about. Mikasa, Armin this is Eren Yeager remember the boy I told you about. Eren, this is my adoptive daughter Mikasa Ackerman and her best friend Armin Arlert. I’m sure you will get along just fine,”.

“Hi, I’m Armin, Mikasa and I are looking at this book I found in my grandfather’s basement. Do you want to join us?” the blonde boy said. Eren looked at him then to the girl, then back to the boy. He seemed honest, he reminded him of Hange whenever they were talking about titans, Hange and this boy had the same look in their eyes. Maybe he would be fine after all.

* * *

_He didn’t recognise where he was, a land full of sand reaching out in every direction. The sky was filled with stars twinkling in the dark as if it was a normal night sky that Eren watched when he was in the Shiganshina District for the first time. He gazed up at the stars and wondered about his past. Since the fall of Wall Maria and joining the cadet corps, Eren didn’t have that luxury anymore. He wasn’t sure where he was going, everything looked the same, but he had this urge to move, like he needed to get somewhere._

_“Eren Yeager” an unfamiliar voice said, Eren turned around in circles but he couldn’t see anyone._

_“Eren Yeager” the voice said again this time much closer, Eren looked again yet still he couldn’t see anyone, but his surroundings changed. Sand still surrounded him, but this time there was a giant pillar of light that branched out like a tree. The closer he got, the brighter the light shone._

_“Eren Yeager” the voice spoke, but this time a small girl appeared inside the pillar of light. The girl had straight cut bangs with shoulder-length light coloured hair. She wore a tattered dress with a cloth headband, sash belt, and leather sandals laced just above her ankles. She looked like a slave, but even by looking at her, Eren knew that this girl was special. She was important, but he didn’t know why._

_“Who are you?” Eren asked, “why did you bring me here, where is here?”._

_“Eren Yeager, son of Grisha and Dina Yeager, younger brother to Zeke Yeager and inheritor of one of the nine,” the girl said confusing Eren even further._

_“What! How the hell can you know that about me, I don’t know that about me. The inheritor of what?! Where are my parents? Where is my brother? What happened to me? What happened to my memories? Did you take my memories?” Eren said firing off as many questions as he could, but the girl just shook her head._

_“Everything will become clear soon, my dear descendant, follow the paths, come find me before it’s too late,”._

Eren shot up in his cot, hitting his head on the bunk above and let out a small groan. What the hell was that dream, was that real or was he finally losing it. It didn’t feel like a memory, not like the one he had about his brother, god; he had a brother, a mother and a father, he now knew their names, Grisha and Dina but in his other memory his parents were traitors but why, everything was slowly becoming too much. What the hell had his life been before he lost his memories. He had an older brother who apparently protected him from their traitorous parents and yet somehow, he’s trapped inside these walls with basically no memory of his family. If his brother had protected him before then, where was he? Why did Zeke let him go outside the walls? Why did his brother abandon him?

“huh… Eren what’s wrong, you’re crying” Armin said groggily, but the sight of tears instantly woke him up. Eren just shook his head before wiping the tears from his face. He hadn’t realised he was crying but why, why was he crying for something he didn’t remember.

“I… I need to get to the paths; I need to find Zeke,” Eren said before collapsing on top of Armin.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this easily became one of my favourite chapters, I don't know why I just love it so much! So, I hope you do too! Also, can we appreciate that this is chapter eight and I'm already 21,000 words into this story like what! I honestly never expected to hit this milestone so soon considering my longest complete story is 44,000 words and we're already half that and this story is nowhere near being finished like this is an achievement for me. Anywho, enough of me blabbing, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and please if you can tell me your thoughts in the comments, I love hearing them!

Marco might have not known Jean for a long time, that being three days in fact but he could already tell that Jean when he put his anger aside had the material to become a great leader, Jean understood being weak, he could relate to his fellow cadets in a way Marco never could. Marco had been forced to grow up fast at a young age to protect his family, he never had the luxury of feeling safe, no one in his village had that luxury and Marco felt becoming a soldier was his only escape from that cruel life so he could protect his family and then they would be treated better. Marco knew he was selfish, he didn’t care about what other people went through as long as he protected himself and those he cares about from harm. But not Jean. Jean picked fights with those who tried to belittle him and those around him, Jean understood something that Marco never could.

“Where did that bastard go?! I want to smash his face in,” Jean grumbled. He hadn’t taken his defeat against Eren well, honestly, no one had expected Eren to retaliate, he didn’t seem or act like someone who would pick fights and from the looks of it even Eren had looked shocked when he suddenly dodged Jean’s attack before knocking the other boy onto his ass.

“Jean,” Marco sighed; he had been dealing with this fall out for the last couple of days. After the fight, Eren left the Mess Hall and spent most of the following day keeping his distance from Jean as if he was scared that something like that would happen again. Eren had surrounded himself with the other cadets, spending most of his time with Reiner and Bertholdt or Armin, and even Ymir (how Eren got along with her without wanting to pull his hair out was beyond him). Jean had wanted a re-match but as Eren hardly stuck around long enough in Jean’s presence unless they were training – Jean hadn’t had the chance to pick a fight with Eren. Not that Marco minded, the less fighting there was amongst the cadets then it would lead to them working successfully as a team. Although he wasn’t sure he would trust Eren and Jean in a team together with how Jean was acting at the moment, he could only hope as the weeks go by and everyone slowly got to know each other Eren and Jean… well, mainly Jean would get over their differences and get along.

“No, listen here, Marco! I hate people like him just because he so righteous because he’s decided he wants to be suicidal and join the scouting regiment doesn’t give him the right to look down on everyone else for their dreams,” Jean snapped.

“Jean, you’re getting yourself worked up about this. Have you thought that maybe, just maybe, Eren didn’t mean it like that? If you think about it, we hardly know everything about Eren. He could just struggle to get along with other people, and we haven’t really given him a chance to get to know us. We’ve only been at camp for three days; I don’t know everything about you or vice versa. Maybe you should give Eren another chance,” Marco suggested.

“But…”.

“And,” Marco said, shooting a glare at Jean when he tried to interrupt, “you let your own emotions cloud your judgment when you got into an argument with him. Just because we haven’t yet seen Eren use the ODM gear doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to use it, we don’t know his circumstances. Maybe his family knew a soldier who taught Eren the basics when he was growing up. How about we agree to give Eren a chance to prove himself, tomorrow we’re out on the gear so you can see first-hand what he’s capable of and if Eren was being honest and he knows how to use the gear, then you have to apologise to him, you can’t make everyone your enemy Jean you need friends to fall back on when you need to and for them to have your back? That won’t happen if you try to fight everyone,”.

“Fine” Jean reluctantly agreed before storming off. Marco sighed, maybe persecution was easier to deal with than Jean.

* * *

The dream was haunting him; it was a constant thought on his mind like it was calling out to him, forcing him to remember. Not that he could forget it, even if he wanted to. That girl, she knew him somehow; she knew who his parents were and his brother something that even Eren didn’t know. When he tried to picture Dina and Grisha Yeager, his mind would always draw a blank, yet this overwhelming feeling of anger would wash over him, and his body would always shake with rage. Whoever his parents were, they were obviously not good people for his body to remember something that his mind doesn’t.

But that wasn’t the only strange thing that came from that dream. He felt like he recognised that girl; he wasn’t sure why, but he did. He got this urge to obey her, that it took all his strength to stop him from going out and searching for this path when he woke up. It was scaring him. If this girl was this powerful, does that mean everything he is doing was not of his own free will but this girl planning his life so it would eventually lead him to her? This was all making his head hurt, like his body was trying to protest, telling him he wasn’t allowed to remember. The girl said he would remember when he was ready, but does that mean she’s stopping him from remembering but why would she do that, wouldn’t it make more sense if he knew who he was then he could find this path place. None of this was making any sense. Why was he found outside the walls, where was Zeke, and what happened to his traitorous parents? What was happening to him!

Eren groaned his head was killing him. He rested it in his hands and closed his eyes as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

_“Zekey, who is mummy and daddy? Colt has them and he says he loves them, and they look after him and they were going to give him a little brother or sister! I’ve never met my mummy or daddy? Who were they? What were they like?” a eight-year-old Eren asked his brother when he came back from his warrior training that day, he tried to ask his grandad and nanny but they got this look in their eyes and would tell him to go away and play._

_“They were horrible people my little hunter” Zeke replied pulling his little brother onto his lap, it was bound to happen, they couldn’t keep the horrible deed a secret any longer, Eren was going to ask about their parents, eventually._

_“Mr Johnson says that horrible people get taken away and that sometimes a whole family is horrible. If our parents are horrible, does that mean we are too? Are they going to take us away from grandad and nanny?” Eren said, his eyes wide and slowly filled up with tears. He didn’t want to lose his grandad and nanny, he loved them._

_“No, nothing like that will ever happen to you! I’ll protect you Eren, I promise” Zeke said. He willingly turned his own parents in to protect his grandparents and his baby brother. He wouldn’t let something or one hurt Eren, not whilst he’s still breathing._

_“Who’s going to protect you?” Eren said, his forehead wrinkled, a clear sign to Zeke that his brother was trying to think really hard, “I can protect you Zekey!”._

_“Yeah, sure you can. I’ll protect you and you protect me” Zeke agreed before pressing a kiss to his brother’s chubby cheeks._

_“I love you Zekey” Eren shouted, throwing his small arms around his brother’s chest._

_“I love you too, my little hunter,”._

* * *

“These devils are idiots. They fight over the stupidest of things, and the military’s punishments are child’s play. What do I learn from running around some track for hours? None of these people would have made it into Marley’s military or even been considered becoming Warriors if they still held these stupid notions” Jaws complained as he walked over to his fellow warriors, they had spent the last couple of days settling into the military life and routine, it was embarrassing how easy the higher ups decided what training they were going to give the cadets hoping to turn them into soldiers. No wonder so many died outside the walls. Marley would never go that easy on anyone joining their military, both Eldian warrior candidate and Marleyan soldier.

“They live in a native world where they have still yet to discover what titans are and they are far from prepared to deal with an attack of the colossal titan or the armored titan when wall maria fell proved that much” Gemini said, he had been around these devils long enough to know that they believe in their walls a little too much, hell, there was an actual religion where people prayed to the walls. It made him wonder what the wallest would think if they knew that the walls which protected them were filled with the same creatures that wished to devour them.

“I don’t care, nothing will seem hard to me after my father’s training,” Annie said shrugging, “what do you want us for?”.

“Not much. Whilst we are completing our training, it is very doubtful that we will get any useful information from here. The cadets here are stupid, and they know nothing. I think we can say for sure that these devils no nothing that would help us with locating the founder. As we have previously discussed, we will have to force the founder to come to us. Next week we will have the weekend off, I will comply with all the information we have into a letter for Marley, if there is anything information about this mission you want to send back then at some point in this week past me a coded letter containing said information. I want to leave early on Saturday because of the distance between the docks and wall rose,” Gemini said. After the fall of wall maria, he hadn’t had the opportunity to sneak away and update Marley on their current situation. This weekend, if he aims it right, he’d be able to disappear and escape the wall before the other cadets woke up. Connie and Franz’s snoring would drown out any noise he’d make, and it wasn’t that hard to get out. The walls had the same flaw.

“How would you get out of here? The garrisons will not let you saunter out the front gate and the scouting regiment aren’t leaving the walls for another few months” Reiner asked, when he had passed through the walls pretending to be a refugee, he had seen how guarded the gate was, there was no chance that Gemini could slip out unnoticed by the Garrisons.

“Security hasn’t changed much. The garrisons main aim is to keep titans from entering the walls and now ensuring that the armored and colossal titans won’t be able to breach the walls once more that being said there is a small flaw in the bars allowing the river to flow through the district, the bars haven’t been changed since the construction of the walls, they are old and rusty, if you pull one of the bars ever so gently, it will create a hole large enough to slip through. All I need to do is leave camp earlier enough to sneak into Trost and through those bars before anyone notices that I’m missing. I’ve done this countless times and like we’ve said before, these devils are stupid, they aren’t expecting someone to break out. I’ll be fine,” Gemini explained. It also helped when he was with his host family he could ask his ‘mother’ to keep everyone away from him because he was feeling overwhelmed. It was shocking how stupid and trusting these Eldians were.

“If the titans were just a bit smarter, these Eldian devils wouldn’t have stood a chance. Is that all you wanted to talk to us about?” Bertholdt asked, it was getting late and they couldn’t be around each other for long, it was too much of a risk, if someone saw them together and then later in their mission if one of them was revealed to be a shifter it would be obvious who their accomplices were.

“No, there’s something else, there’s something I need to ask you,” Gemini started, “it’s about…”.

* * *

How could he! How dare he! They were family, the only ones left, and he had abandoned her for them, for people who didn't know him, who didn't understand him but she couldn't do anything, she was already walking on thin ice after the stunt she pulled just before they signed up for the cadet corps. She was trying to save his life why couldn't he understand that, joining the scouting regiment was certified death, he wasn't special without her, he wouldn't survive without her. Armin understood her. They both know that Eren will die after he graduates but Armin has all but given up trying to save Eren from his impending doom. If only she could stop him from graduating... that's it! A smirk appeared on Mikasa's face, it didn't matter if Eren had a one-way ticket to the scouting regiment if he failed at being a soldier then there was no way he could join, if she messes with Eren's progress making him look like he was incompetent then Commandant Shadis would have no choice but to kick him out of the cadet corps. This could work, and Eren would never suspect a thing. 


	9. Chapter 9

Jean didn’t know what to think. He had begrudgingly taken Marco’s advice and decided to watch Eren during their ODM gear training today to see whether Eren was actually as skilled with the gear as he claimed to be the other day. Hell, Jean had even spent a few hours the previous day trying to figure out how he could follow Eren around without drawing any attention to himself, he hadn’t expected the perfect opportunity to land in his lap in the form of Shadis literally telling Eren to demonstrate a new maneuver they had been learning in their ODM Lectures.

Eren glided gracefully from one tree to the next before demonstrating the maneuver on the titan dummy by slicing the titan’s right leg flying underneath its right arm and cutting its leg arm before stopping mid-air allowing himself to free fall until he was low enough to shoot out his cable cutting its left leg followed by its right arm before aiming and slicing it napes. Then Eren dropped next to Shadis without a care in the world, like he hadn’t just demonstrated one of the most difficult ODM maneuvers with ease.

Jean hated to admit it but even he was impressed let alone the rest of the cadets who watched with their mouths hanging open, doing what Jean could only really describe as a fish impression. Not that he could really blame any of them, hell if Jean didn’t have more self-control over his facial expressions, he would probably do the same impression. Marco on the other hand just looked pleased with himself as he turned to look at Jean.

Crap, he still had to say sorry after this. He had made that deal and he didn’t want to let anyone else down like he seemed to do a lot lately. So, when the other cadets had piled out and Eren had finished talking to Shadis, Jean slowly approached him.

“Eren,” he said, not sure how he should start this, does he go straight into the apology or just make small talk first.

“Oh Jean, is there something I can do for you?” Eren asked, his eyebrows frowned as he looked at Jean.

“I wanted to say…” Jean trailed off. He wasn’t really a person to apologise and to be honest, he wasn’t sure how to. Most of the time whenever he had picked a fight he knew what he was talking about and nine times out of ten he had been right and it was the person who he picked a fight with apologising to him but this time he couldn’t have been more wrong. Eren could use the ODM gear exceptionally well, and if Jean didn’t know better, he would have believed that Eren was a senior veteran and not a cadet. Now he had seen all of that, he wasn’t surprised why the Scouting Regiment had snatched Eren up at the first chance they got, “I’m sorry for what I said the other day, it was wrong of me”.

“I forgive you, few people believe I know how to use the gear, and mostly I kept it to myself because of that. I’m sorry if I offended you when I called you horse face” Eren said and Jean nodded. There! Apology over and now they could move on and he didn’t have to deal with Marco pestering. Jean turned to walk away. It was lunchtime, and he knew the other cadets would have already headed to the mess hall.

“Um... Jean,” Eren said, Jean turned around, “How about we put this all behind us and be friends instead,”.

Jean started at Eren, then looked down at his outstretched hand, then he looked back up at Eren. Friends, he could do that, “Sure we’re friends now”.

* * *

It was pathetic, really! How these devils had spent years trying to keep the titans out yet there were so many faults in their walls as it was that if the mindless or abnormal titans had even a speck of intelligence left over from their previous human life, then it would have been easy for the titans to break into the walls, hell, it would’ve made the job for himself and his warriors much easier had the devils died out years ago. Escaping the wall had been too easy, slipping away unnoticed from the sleeping cadets and then to slip past the Garrisons Soldiers on duty before transforming into his titan form. It felt odd being in it after years, being trapped in his human form behind these walls.

It felt like he was finally coming home after such a long time. Being in his titan form made him remember the honour and vow he made to his country when he had been chosen to inherit one of the nine titans from the traitor Eren Kruger.

He hadn’t travelled far from Wall Rose when nightfall fell; he had got little sleep the night before as he spent most of his time thinking and changing his plan before settling with his old plan once more. He sometimes hated being appointed the Vice-Captain role of the warrior unit, it put far too much more pressure on him and if he was being honest Gemini believed that Marcel was more suited to the role but Marcel didn’t inherit the Jaws Titan like everyone was expecting, instead, he was being forced to wait thirteen years until their titans were passed down to the new warriors. He didn’t regret capping his life expectancy; it wasn’t like he had much to live for once his brother’s titan was passed down three years before his own, he could only hope that when his thirteen years are up, he could prove that the Eldians forced to live in Libero weren’t anything like the devils on this island but it wasn’t something he could worry about now, the titans had finally stopped moving and Gemini felt safe enough to climb out his titan and set up camp, starting a fire from bits of rubble he had scavenged from the houses in the village he had taken camp in.

He still needed to finish writing his update for General Magath before he could even think about settling down for the night. He couldn’t spend long sleeping anyway, it would be easier to cover more ground during the dark and earlier hours of the morning before the titans start moving, he needed to reach the docks by the next night if he was going to make it back to the training camp before anyone got suspicious of his disappearance, Reiner and Bertholdt could only lie for him for so long. 

_Dear General Magath,_

_The warriors and I have successfully infiltrated the devils’ military and we will continue our search for the founder. In a previous letter, I mentioned that the government and royal family are fake, a puppet for the real royal family who has seemed to make it their mission to remain hidden. We expect that the higher ups of the Military are responsible for this and I hope when we spilt and join the three military factions we can uncover who in either the Military Police, Garrisons or Scouting Regiment is in cahoots with the royal family and the founder._

_During our days off we will still search but we expect nothing to come from it, we still have over two years left of this pathetic excuse for military training before we can properly discover where the founder is hiding, we expect it to be in Wall Sina because that is where the false royal family is located and it is doubtful the founder would risk the titans getting hold of them. Armoured believes that we might need to force the founder out by destroying Wall Rose and make Wall Sina these devils last barrier, Female and Jaws suggest we should do it at the end of the training._

_The altered memories have also removed these devil's understanding of the enemies that lurk outside the walls. They do not know what the titans truly are or do they know what lives inside their walls. They would not handle a full-scale attack from all the warriors or the powerful military. Their only chance to fight is the ODM gear they used to fight titans, their other weapons are useless and sorely outdated, their technology is backward, and they would not stand to survive an attack from Marley’s powerful military._

_I will update you on any plan changes or breakthroughs whenever they occur._

_Your faithful warrior_

_Gemini_

Gemini got up at the crack of dawn before the titans started stirring from their comatose state and shifted into his titan form. The wind had blown the fire out halfway through the night, and irritatingly Gemini couldn’t find his letter for General Magath in his things. He could only assume the wind blew it away, and he didn’t have time to go looking for it. He still had a lot of ground to cover in an insufficient space of time.

The steamboat was in when he finally arrived at the docks late that night. They knelt four Eldian prisoners on the thirty-foot wall, ready to be turned into titans.

“Vice-Captain, we weren’t expecting to see you here,” General Calvi said glaring at Gemini as he approached, walking around the back of the wall after shedding his titan form. General Calvi didn’t like any of the warriors, he had been adamant that Gemini shouldn’t have inherited his titan and instead, it should have gone to Porco but General Magath had the final say since he worked with the warrior unit whilst General Calvi only interacted with them if he had to.

“I have an update for General Magath about our mission,” Gemini said pulling the re-written letter from his pocket and passed it over to the General who begrudgingly took it, “I better be off, it’s a long trek back to wall rose if you excuse me, Sir,”.

Gemini bowed before walking to the end of the wall, hand in his mouth, ready to transform when General Calvi spoke up.

“General Magath believes that you and the other warriors are failing your mission, you devil knows that transforming into titans is the only thing you are good at. If we don’t get any results from you in the next few months, they are planning to send the Beast and Cartman titan here to do your job,”.

“Then we will look forward to working with them. My letter explains everything. Goodbye General” Gemini didn’t waste any longer before biting down on his hand and jumped off the wall. He briefly saw the other humans being pushed off after being injected with the titan serum. His large titan feet landed on the ground, he could only be lucky that in a few hours the titans would once again become inactive but unlike the previous day, he didn’t have the luxury to sleep, he had already lost plenty of time talking to General Calvi and re-writing that letter, he now had a small window to return to Wall Rose and sneak back into the training camp for supper before anyone noticed he hadn’t shown up, the last thing he needed was the instructors and fellow cadets badgering him constantly about where he’s been. Gemini didn’t look back at the small glimpse of Marley as he started running towards the wall.

* * *

Mikasa started off simple. She knew she couldn’t rush this; she needed to plant seeds of doubt in the instructors' minds without drawing too much attention to herself, she couldn’t risk Eren or the others discovering what she was doing, it wasn’t like she was in Eren’s good books at the moment or some of the other for a matter of fact. She had nearly broken Reiner’s arm, hit Christa, and picked a fight with Ymir and that had happened in the last week, by trying to protect Eren she was only driving him away. She didn’t blame herself though, if Eren’s so-called friends didn’t get in her way then she couldn’t need to resort to violence. Though now she thought about it, she probably shouldn’t have targeted Christa because now the entire training camp hated her and even Armin refused to speak with her unless he had to.

It was easy at first, gaining points was important to completing their training, they were scoured on everything they did, and those who kept getting low scores were deemed unfit for duty. It worked for the most part Eren was getting lower points and scores however, after a while it stopped. Behind her back, Eren started training more with the other cadets and Shadis started marking him on those extra training sessions than the actual ones. Mikasa changed her tactics. She knew how serious cheating was and how it will get people killed if a soldier doesn’t know his stuff; it was the only way to get someone kicked out of the Corps without their performance taken into review, it also helped that Eren was the only person who got one hundred percent on their titan knowledge exam, the only person who was close enough to Eren’s score was Armin with ninety-four percent, so it wasn’t hard to convince one of their instructors that perhaps Eren had cheated, Mikasa wasn’t sure why this hadn’t worked, she watched Shadis take Eren into his office where they remained for nearly an hour before Eren resurfaced whispered something to Ymir and that was it. He wasn’t kicked out; he wasn’t humiliated in front of everyone for potentially cheating on an exam. When she tried to bring it up again to another instructor, she was dismissed and told to stop feeling jealous of her fellow cadet.

She knew that she had her work cut out for her when she tried again a few months later; they had been at the training corps for seven months now and so far Eren was the prodigy soldier who had a bright career in the military and everyone seemed to respect him; he was notoriously good at hand-to-hand combat, which he proved early on after kicking Jean’s ass a few months back. So this time she went after his hand-to-hand combat skills. Whenever she was partnered with him, she tried to knock him down; she tried to show everyone that Eren wasn’t that good, but each and every time he threw her off and knock her off her feet. Each and every time he proved to everyone why he was first in hand to hand combat.

She had to change her tactics again; she returned to her only sabotaging attempt, which worked the first time around stealing points and lowering his scores, but somehow Ymir, Reiner, and Christa figured out what she was doing and intervened, blocking off any opening for her to strike. Mikasa tried to sabotage Eren’s important tests but because she only had a small opportunity to grab Eren’s and change some answers, she wasn’t paying attention to which one she picked out and discovered the following day when Eren once again got one hundred percent that she had grabbed Connie’s instead by mistake. 

One whole year later and she was desperate, Mikasa was trying anything and everything she could think of to make Eren look bad or incompetent but now he seemed like he had his own bodyguard in the form of Reiner and Ymir it was practically impossible, hell, she was accidentally making him look good. She had tried everything, and nothing was working. She even tried to start a rumour on Eren, but this was days after she punched Christa and no one was giving her the time of day. 

Mikasa had been so sure that her plan would work, she should be back in the fields with a grumpy yet alive Eren but no she was still here with Eren getting further and further away from her. A whole year had passed since they joined the cadet corps and each and every day Eren proved himself to be more of a dedicated and skilled soldier, at this rate if Eren ever did something wrong Shadis and their other instructors were going to give him a pass because Eren was worth a few hiccups when they could produce a soldier who may even rival Humanities Strongest. And Mikasa couldn’t let that happen. She would sell her soul to the Earth Devil if that meant Eren would quit the military.

She was getting desperate now, Armin had all but accepted that Eren was becoming a soldier and was now going to him to get help with his ODM gear or physical training. Armin had even dared to tell her to give up on Eren! That was the last thing that was going to happen. She would save Eren if it were the last thing she did, and she still had one more trick up her sleeve. His gear, Eren could only enter the scouting regiment if he could use his gear so, if his gear were to miraculously stop working during the test next week then Eren would be seen as incompetent and Shadis wouldn’t have the choice but to get rid of him. Yes, if Eren’s gear suddenly stopped working whilst airborne, Eren would come out of it with a broken arm or leg, but that would heal over time and Eren would be safe. A broken bone was worth Eren’s life.

* * *

Eren couldn’t believe his eyes. He’d been planning to do some extra training with Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir and Christa before their next lecture on Titans. The others had already grabbed their gear with Reiner helping Bertholdt and Ymir helping Christa with their gear straps, the scene with the two couples was making Eren feel incredible single so he shuffled away from the group to put his gear on in peace when he realised something wasn’t right. The one side of his gear felt lighter than the other, he knew what his gear felt like, this was a part of him, he knew every nook and cranny, every scratch and dent. Eren knew how heavy the gear was meant to feel on each hip, and something wasn’t right.

He took the gear off immediately. If he tried to use it without rectifying whatever was wrong, it could cause an accident. He was not raised by the scouting regiment for a few months and trained under its old commander to make mistakes and crashing in this gear. Eren checked the cables, nothing. He looked at the turbine which powers the winch to the cables, but everything was still in working order. Eren then looked at the straps attached to his legs to see whether the buckle was coming loose, but still nothing. It made little sense. His whole gear was in working order, yet he knew something was wrong, he could feel it in his bones, something wasn’t right with his gear. Then he saw it, a small puncture in the gas cylinders, small enough for someone not to instantly notice and completely impossible to accidentally cause. Eren gasped in realisation – someone had tampered with his gear.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my dog Freya who's just turned one today! Happy Birthday, Freya Monster!

Eren wouldn’t have been surprised if he sent Shadis into orbit as he slammed the office door open and stormed inside, shutting the door with the same ferocity as he opened it with and practically threw his tampered gear onto Shadis’ desk and flopped down into the chair opposite in a huff. Eren was beyond pissed. He had only experienced this anger once before, and that was whenever he thought about his apparently traitorous parents. The ODM gear was an essential part of him, a part of him being a soldier, and someone dared to destroy it, to destroy a part of him. And he was wracking his brain trying to think of anyone he might have angered that week for them to do this, but he kept drawing a blank.

“Eren is something the matter?” Shadis asked looking down at the gear on his desk then back up to the person it belonged to.

“Someone’s tampered with it, look at the gas cylinders carefully,” Eren said. Shadis frowned but nevertheless inspected the gas cylinder in front of him, then he checked the other one. He couldn’t believe it. The holes were small that at first glance there doesn’t seem to be a problem it wasn’t until you gave it a closer look that you could see the small hole, a hole which Shadis knew through years of experience of working with the ODM gear couldn’t be made accidentally – someone had done this deliberately. Someone had pierced the gas cylinders with the intention for Eren to wear and use the gear and for it to fail on him whilst he was up in the air and Shadis could tell that this wasn’t to make Eren look bad. Someone had a personal vendetta against Eren. 

“Do you know who’s responsible?” Shadis asked horrified, during the three years the cadets would train to become a soldier it was drilled into them about the importance of maintaining their gear and working together as a team both were vital for survival against the titans, the thought someone dared to tamper with another person equipment after having these ideals forced down their throats was shocking indeed. Whoever did this would not get away with it lightly.

“No! If I did, then I would have a go at them. I haven’t even seen anyone acting suspic…” Eren trailed off. He was such an idiot! He was thinking about people he might have pissed off recently but that wasn’t it, he hadn’t been getting along with Mikasa since they’ve joined the cadet corps and now he thought about it, he remembers seeing her going into the shed where the gear was stored. He had thought little about it at first, he just assumed that she was planning on doing some extra training but with her standoff behaviour towards him and the other cadets throughout this last year and now his tampered gear… ah… it all made sense. Mikasa for some unknown reason had tampered with his gear.

He stood up, ignoring the sound of his chair scraping against the floor, and grabbed the gear from Shadis’ desk, and stormed out of the office. He knew Mikasa didn’t like the idea of him joining the cadets and later the scouting regiment; he understood she was concerned for his safety but that didn’t give her the right to mess around with his gear; she was his sister for god’s sake; they were meant to look out for each other and help one another not do this. Eren couldn’t even think of a reasonable explanation for why she had done this, yes, this last year he had been distant from her spending more of his time with Ymir, Christa, Armin, Reiner, and Bertholdt then later Jean and Marco then with her but Mikasa needed to make her own friends among the cadets and not stick to his side like a titan chasing after its prey.

He knew where he would find her – the mess hall. Eren and his friends had planned to get a quick training session in before supper when he noticed his tampered gear and between realising that and getting to Shadis office, supper would have started. He couldn’t even feel sorry for her as he swung the mess hall door open and scanned the room filled with his fellow 104th cadets. If she did this to his gear then she deserved to be publicly humiliated after getting into a fight with Ymir only last week and actually punching Christa when she tried to intervene. To be honest, Mikasa wasn’t really in anyone’s good books.

Mikasa sat on a nearly empty table. The only other occupant was Annie. Eren felt everyone’s eyes on him as he maneuvers his way around the tables and almost threw his gear at Mikasa. Her facial expression held no emotion like usual however, Eren knew Mikasa, and her eyes gave away the shock and surprise she was feeling.

“Did you do this?” Eren said glaring at her, “and I don’t want any bullshit excuse Mikasa. Did you tamper with my gear?”.

Mikasa stayed quiet for a few minutes, internally weighing out her options. She could deny it and push the blame onto someone else or she could be honest and make Eren see her way, “Yes, I did”.

“Mikasa” Eren shouted. He couldn’t believe it, he didn’t want to believe it. Mikasa, his adoptive sister, had willingly sabotaged his equipment after he had borne his heart to her the day they signed up for the cadet corps, “Why?”.

“Isn’t that obvious? I wanted to protect you!” Mikasa said, raising her voice a little, but other than that stayed completely calm, Eren on the other hand lost it. He never felt so angry towards Mikasa in his brief life with her.

“You punctured a hole in both my gas cylinders! How the fuck is that protecting me?! That is the opposite of protecting me! Had I used my gear without realising what you did, I would be in the infirmary with whom knows what type of extensive injuries! A fall from a fifty-meter height if far from protecting me,” Eren screamed. He didn’t care what looks he was getting from the other cadets, he didn’t care if he was acting differently from who he usually was. All he cared about was why his sister had such a warped understanding of how to protect him, this was not protecting him!

“It was a small price to pay to save your life,” Mikasa said, she couldn’t believe how emotional Eren was acting, his emotions were clouding his judgment and understanding that what she was doing for him was right, “Had the instructors seen that you were actually incapable of using your gear during the test next week then they would have no choice but to dismiss you from the corps. You would be saved and forget this pathetic soldier dream of yours, you join the scouting regiment then you die. I’m protecting you and preventing this from happening. Don’t you value how important your life is to me, Eren!”.

“I couldn’t care less about my life! I couldn’t care less about your warped priorities about protecting me,” Eren started, “I am no one. I am not a person; I am not a human being. I am an empty shell, a false image, I could die tomorrow, and I couldn’t care less because what do I have to lose. My family? Who I know nothing about and from the little I do, they’re dead! My brother? Whose been missing and out of my life for over three years well he might be dead. This brain of mine filled with nothing because I don’t remember anything. Tell me Mikasa why should I give a damn about something that I don’t know about! I don’t know who I am, I don’t know what I am, and at this rate, I will never know where I’m from. My life means nothing to me, and it never will! Being a soldier is my only hope at being something because it can’t become that then I might as well go outside Wall Rose and hand myself over to the titans because I have nothing and I repeat nothing to live for. Not my family, not my brother, and certainly not for you! Mikasa Ackerman, you are the worse person I have ever met in my life and I can’t even be sure if that’s true. If you can’t understand how important being a cadet and a soldier means to me, then you know nothing about who I potentially really am and if you can’t accept that, if for some obscure reason that your brain cannot accept this then tough shit because from this day forward I want nothing to do with you, you mean nothing to me,”.

“You no longer have the right to associate with me, you have no right to call me by my first name. You are no longer my sister,” Eren finished storming out of the mess hall, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang.

* * *

During all his years as a soldier and later as an instructor, he had never ever seen anything like this. Trust, teamwork, and looking after one’s gear were important to survival as a soldier whether they are outside the walls fighting titans or working with the Military Police going after humans, you need to trust your team and work effectively in the field to ensure that you and your team live to see another day. Listening to Eren awoke something inside of Shadis that he never felt before and when Eren had left the mess hall, leaving a shocked and distressed Mikasa behind, Shadis stepped into her line of sight and glared at the young cadet taking great pleasure when she flinched and visible shrunk into herself. He might have said nothing at first when Eren was shouting but that didn’t mean he was going to stand back and let her get away with what she had done, he was going to make an example out of her to the other and future cadets to ensure that nothing like this happened again.

“Cadet Ackerman, I am very disappointed in you. Not only did you disregard one of our most important principles, but you nearly injured a fellow cadet. This has never happened in our whole military history, and I hope this teaches a lesson to the other cadets. Cadet Ackerman, you are one of our most priced cadets with a promising future in any regiment you choose and you were on track to receive first place in our top ten however I cannot overlook your action and I hereby announce that you cannot receive a place in the top ten from here out no matter how hard to work form now one and you will lose out on the opportunity of joining the Military Police. You are forbidden from entering the ODM storage shed unless you are retrieving your own gear and are with someone else, you may not handle anyone expects your own gear,” Shadis said, “For the next two years until you graduate you will be on probation, you try anything like this again and you will be back on the fields faster than you can say, titan,”.

Shadis then turned to face the other cadets in the room, giving all of them a stern look before adding, “this better be a lesson to you all, you try to do anything similar whether it be to Cadet Yeager or another cadet then you will not have a second chance,”.

“Cadet Ackerman, I want you running laps for the rest of this week you are only allowed to have breaks whenever you are required for lectures and practical or entitled to food and sleep or to do your assigned chores starting now,” Shadis said striding around the table grabbing Mikasa by the arm and dragged her out of the mess hall. Eren was like a son to him, he had seen how lost the young boy had been when he was with the scouting regiment after they found him without his memories, Shadis had seen how much Eren had struggled to fit in with the others and he would rather become the Commander of the Scouting Regiment and lead all of them to their doom than let Eren become that scared little boy again.

* * *

Ymir darted through the forest, chasing after Eren. She had gotten quite close with her fellow cadet in the last year; he reminded her of the children she knew growing up with a kind and caring heart but there was a darker side hidden in those eyes of his which constantly flickered between hate and disgust to confusion and looking lost. Eren interested her, he was a mystery which she was determined to solve, but first and foremost; she felt protective of him. She had seen the way Mikasa was treating Eren the little that they did spend together throughout the last year; she saw what Mikasa did trying to sabotage Eren’s progress and if Ymir or Reiner had interfered, then Mikasa might have succeeded if it wasn’t for Eren being Instructor Shadis favourite. She knew that Eren had some history with their instructor but she didn’t know what but then again that just added to the mystery which was Eren Yeager - a kind hearted cadet, who looked like the ODM gear was his second skin and had mad hand-to-hand combat skills that even Mikasa couldn’t take him down.

But that wasn’t what got Ymir thinking, the confession amongst his shouting in the mess hall was burnt into the forefront of her mind. Eren disregard for himself and his own perception threw all her previous thoughts on Eren out the window, she had always suspected like Christa, that Eren was acting, that he was putting on a front whilst he was with the other cadets but she didn’t realise to what extent that Eren had been hiding his true self and how he really felt about himself.

“You didn’t need to follow me Ymir,” Eren said as Ymir entered a clearing in the forest, Eren sat on the floor crossed leg underneath a tall tree, his eyes were closed and he was facing forward.

“Yeah, well after what Ackerman did. I wanted to make sure you were alright. We friends have to stick together when the other is hurting,” Ymir said slowly approaching Eren, who still had his eyes closed and refused to look at her.

“Ymir, I’m fine, trust me. You don’t need to worry about me, I just need a few hours to myself then I’ll be back to normal” Eren said, he didn’t need people to worry about him, he lived through his family being ripped away from him before then he should be able to do so again.

“Who wants to be normal,” Ymir said, bumping her shoulder with Eren’s as she sat down beside him, “Fine, you don’t want to talk than listen, I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time, a baby girl was born to two wealthy parents however, this girl wasn’t what the parents wanted to instead when no one was looking they threw their child down a hole and left her for dead. However, this hole leads to an underground lake beside an underground city and a little boy saw this baby and rescued her before taking her back to his family. The family feeling sorry for the baby and took her in and raised her like she was one of their own, the girl had a good life growing up but when she turned seven her brother betrayed his family to the Military Police and they were taken away from her whilst her brother was given a comfortable life above the surface. Now the girl was alone, trapped inside the human version of hell with no means to protect herself, so the girl was taken and sold into slavery, but the girl was smart and there was one thing she knew about that her owners didn’t. Her adoptive father had taught her how to hold a knife and use it against others,”.

“One night when her owner was sleeping the girl snuck into his room and stabbed him when his body was discovered the following day the girl was long gone taking all the other slaves with her. They escaped to the surface world where they hid with the other orphanage children but not wanting to risk the other children being found and dragged back to the underground the girl left her only friends and makeshift family and travelled escaping from Wall Sina or Wall Rose days after the fall of Wall Maria and carefully hid amongst the refugees where after two years of living in filth and hard labour she joined the military for a better lifestyle,” Ymir said finishing her story before turning to face Eren who had now opened his eyes and was looking at her, “after that life, I refused to answer to my real name and became someone else, someone who was untouchable and I chose the name Ymir,”.

“Ymir…” Eren started before trailing off, he had no idea his friend had been through that at such a young age before escaping the underground and joining the military, “I’m sorry you had to live through that, no one should have to go through hell at a young age”.

“That’s not why I told you about my past,” Ymir said, “I told you because I want you to understand that I know what it’s like to have your entire world turned upside down, I know what it’s like to go through hell and still being forced to keep going. I don’t want you to tell me whatever you experienced because that’s your choice, all I’m saying is if you need someone to talk to who will keep an open mind then I’m here for you… just don’t tell the others. I’ve got a reputation to uphold,”.

Eren laughed, “I don’t know who I am,”.

“I don’t mean it like I have figured myself out yet, I mean it literally. When I was nine or ten, I lost my memories of my entire life. I have no idea who my parents are, or when or where I was born. I was found wandering alone, and I nearly died,” Eren said. He might as well be honest with one person like Ymir had said, if anyone were going to understand pain then it would be her.

“Were you found and save by Instructor Shadis, it would explain why you’re so close with him,” Ymir said, Eren nodded. What was the point of lying now if Ymir was figuring it out for herself, “but roughly when you were found what like three plus years ago that would be when Shadis was still the Commander of the Scouting Regiment but that would mean, you were found outside the walls… oh my, how did you end up there?”.

Eren shrugged, it was another question added to his never-ending pile about his life. He didn’t understand how he got outside the walls, how he survived in titan territory for so long, and with the little memories he is gaining, he doubts he would find out anytime soon or at all but it wasn’t something he could really think of now, “Instructor Shadis saved me from the titan’s grasp and smuggled me back inside the walls before setting me up with accommodation at the Scouting Regiments Headquarters where I learned how to use the ODM gear before he found me a place to stay with Carla. She was my adoptive mother until she died in the Fall of Wall Maria, through her I meant Armin and Mikasa, who were already living with her,”.

“Does they know about this?” Ymir asked, if Mikasa knew that Eren nearly died outside the walls it would kind of explain why she was so protective of him.

“No, they swore me to tell no one. Those who know besides me and you are Instructor Shadis, Carla, and four members of the Scouting Regiment. I’ve never spoken about that time to anyone not even Carla so there was no chance that Armin or Mikasa could have overheard, all they know is that somehow I’ve lost my memories and that I was found on the brink of death whether they suspect something about me being outside the walls then I wouldn’t know but I’m sure Armin would have said something had he had his suspicions,” Eren explained.

“And still somehow between you meeting Mikasa and to the present day she lost her marbles and became an obsessive stalker,” Ymir said, Eren nodded. He honestly had no idea what happened to Mikasa, she had never been like this when they first met, “I guess there is only one thing to do, I’m officially promoting myself to being your bodyguard for the rest of our training, and even after if needs be,”.

“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Eren said. He was number one in hand-to-hand combat, he didn’t need anyone to protect him.

“Aww, that’s cute,” Ymir said grinning, “You actually thought you could refuse,”.

* * *

~1 Week Later~

Armin sighed as he watched for the fourth time that morning Mikasa walked over to Eren and just like the other three times Ymir or Reiner blocked her path whilst Christa and Bertholdt hurried Eren away. He still couldn’t comprehend what had happened the previous week let along the whole year, Armin knew he was partly to blame before they discovered about Eren’s fixed place with the scouting regiment he encouraged Mikasa to try to convince Eren to either quit or join another regiment but now he felt bad about it. Armin saw how Eren seemed to come into his own whilst he trained as a soldier, and he regretted ever trying to hold him back.

Armin understood why Eren had said what he did the day they enlisted in the Military, the Eren he saw now was nowhere near the Eren he used to be. He had become more confident with himself and what he was doing. Armin could only wish Mikasa could see Eren in this new light. Honestly, what Mikasa had done shocked and horrified him, that someone he called a sister would go so far to make sure Eren never became a soldier. It scared him. It scared him how possessive Mikasa had become over the years Eren had been in their lives; she had always been protective of Armin whenever their district bullies picked on him but never had she been on another level of protectiveness or possessiveness that she would go after the bullies before they tried anything or try to injurer them beyond the normal hit.

It scared Armin that if Mikasa was capable of this now, then what would she do when they graduate and she eventually joins the scouting regiment, would she try again to get Eren kicked out or would she use a different strategy because as much as Armin hated to admit it to himself but he doubts anything would stop Mikasa until either she succeeded and Eren quit or was dismissed from the Military, or if Eren dies on a mission because of her, or someone forces her to be far away from Eren. Armin hated thinking about either of those three options, but he had no choice. He knew Mikasa would try again, and Armin would do everything in his power to stop her.

* * *

Eren couldn’t believe it. He honestly believed that his eyes were deceiving him because there was no way in hell that Captain Levi, Commander Erwin, and Squad Leader Hange were standing in front of them. Shadis at breakfast this morning informed everyone that there had been a change in today’s timetable and instead of having their normal ODM training they would need to come to their usual classroom for a talk. Most of the cadets grumbled, but no one protested. Who would! It terrified everyone going up against Shadis well everyone minus Eren that was but even he didn’t fancy dancing with death, so he remained quiet and trudged over to their classroom with the rest of the cadets. So, all that led to now, sitting in his usual seat beside Armin, Ymir, and Christa, and waited for whatever talk to start.

So, he couldn’t believe it when the classroom door opened and in walked the three least people Eren expected to see for another few years. He knew the Scouting Regiment would come for him when he graduated that was the agreement with Levi, with the recommendation Eren lost the week everyone else had before they decided which regiment they joined, and instead he would effectively immediately join the ranks of the scouting regiment and head to their headquarters to meet his fellow soldiers and get assigned to a squad but it still made little sense why they were here now, not that he was complaining, he missed Hange and Levi and if he had the chance he would love to spend some time with them, even if it was for a few minutes. And as Eren let his eyes trailing over the expressions of the other cadets, they too had no idea why Commander Erwin, Humanities Strongest Levi, and Chief Titan Researcher Hange were here.

“I’m sure all of you are wondering why we have come to talk with you today,” Erwin started smiling at the young cadets whilst Levi glared his eyes only softening when they landed on Eren and Hange grinned like the maniac they were, “It has come to our attention about an incident which occurred last week about someone tampering with an ODM gear specifically the gas cylinders,”.

“In the gas cylinders is stored compressed gas used to both fires and retract the grapples to help us move through the air. You all should know this from your lectures on the equipment. What might have not been explained properly is the importance of maintaining the structural integrity of the cylinders because…” Erwin trailed off, how does he explain the dangerous effect of using a damaged gear without scaring the cadets off.

“Listen Brats, what eyebrows is trying to say is that when compressed gas is exposed to air without being released through its normal means, it becomes extremely explosive. Had the brat used their gear before realising it was tampered with then they would no longer be with us” Levi snapped, he had seen this once before outside the walls, a young recruit’s gear was damaged when they were trying to get away from a titan, he watched as the compressed gas ignited and the gear and the recruit blew up before his eyes. Shadis informed them who’s gear had been messed with, and Levi was only thankful for his past actions for drilling into Eren to learn how the gear felt on him so he could identify if there were any issues with it later on. This strictness on a kid who at the point might have never used the gear again had saved his life not even a week ago.

Erwin sighed at Levi’s bluntness, but the message got across as clear as day. All the cadets gasped in horror at the risks whilst an Asian-looking girl sitting at the back went white, it didn’t take a genius for Erwin to realise that she was the one who had messed with Eren’s gear unaware of the near death sentence she had given her fellow cadet, “Thank you, Levi, for that… explanation and I hope you all understand the consequences and will never try to do anything like this again but we did not come all the way to give you a lecture on the danger of using damaged gear. If you will follow us Squad Leader Hange will explain”.

Everyone stood from their seats and quietly followed the Commander of the Scouting Regiment out of the classroom and into the courtyard, where waiting in horror were a seven- and fifteen-meter titans secured to two wagons.

“They’re beautiful aren’t they,” Hange said in awe as they looked over that their precious titan babies than at the cadets whose faces were definitely a picture of pure horror well apart from Eren who was already used to being around titans since he used to help Hange and Moblit regularly with their experimentations, “I call them Alexander and Kenny after the world famous cannibals brothers from Wall Sina in 763. Did you know that titans…”.

“Oi! Shitty glasses the brats are here for a titan lecture!” Levi snapped, glaring at Hange who hadn’t noticed that some cadets were going green.

“Oh right! As you know the primary reason, the scouting regiment loses so many recruits in our expeditions is because people freeze when they come across a titan. So Instructor Shadis decided that you must experience what it is like being near and fighting a titan. Obviously, we’ve taken all the necessary precautions to keep you safe from the metal plate welded to the titan's mouth and metal welded to their arms. This test is for you to learn how titans move and to increase your survival whenever you fight then. So, who’s ready to have some fun!”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly can't believe we've already on Chapter 10 like wow how did that happen! I hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter and is excited about the next one! I know I am


	11. Chapter 11

The silence that followed Hange’s announcement was deafening. Everyone stared at them with a mixture of shock, horror, and fear on their faces. Only Eren stared at them with a grin on his face. He was so excited! This was the one thing he had wanted to do ever since he was with the Scouting Regiment, he had worked so hard learning how to use the gear that he had always wanted to know what it felt like using the gear against a titan but Levi and Shadis refused to let him try it. This couldn’t have come at a better time, well Eren guessed Shadis is the reason this test is going ahead, he wanted to prove to Mikasa Ackerman that he, Eren Yeager was more prepared to fight the titans than anyone in the training cadets, he knew what the titans were capable of; he knew what their weakness is; he knows the titans’ strengths. He knew the titans; he knew the fear they created; he knew what it felt like to be in the hand of one of them; he knew what it felt like being on the edge of death and then to bounce back after being saved. It looks like he will still be Shadis debt for arranging this, just as he was for saving his life years ago.

“No… we can’t” Eren heard Mina say horrified as Daz threw up. Armin had gone pale at the sight of seeing a titan again whilst Christa hid behind Ymir. Jean looked sick and Bertholdt clung to Reiner. Eren sighed, maybe he was the weird one. To him, this was an exciting opportunity, but to the others, this was probably their worse nightmare, especially those who had already seen the titans before and planned to never encounter them again. But then again, unlike them, Eren had spent a few months surrounded by the titans. He lived with the scouting regiment, helping Hange and Moblit with their experiments. He was used to the sight of the titans. He didn’t fear them like he once did, that couldn’t be said for the others. Some had witnessed the horror the titans bring during the fall of Wall Maria. Some had only heard stories about titans and wished to never see them and if they did, it was from the protection of the top of the wall and not on the battlefield, this threw them out of their comfort zone because never had actual titans brought in the training camps well that was until today.

“You heard Squad Leader Hange, this test is to prove whether you can stomach facing a titan,” Shadis said stepping up beside the scouting regiment, “you can refuse to take part in this test but by doing so you give up the right of being a soldier. The military needs brave and competent soldiers who are prepared to fight titans, not those who run away in fright at first sight. PREPARE YOURSELVES THAT IS AN ORDER! GET YOUR ODM GEAR AND MET US BACK AT THE FOREST READY FOR THE TEST!”.

Everyone scrambled from the courtyard to the ODM gear shed to grab their gear and put it on whilst Eren ran over to Erwin, Levi, and Hange throwing his arms around Hange as Hange hugged him back.

“My baby, look at you. You’ve grown so much since I last saw you. You’ve grown into a man I can’t believe it,” Hange said pulling away from Eren before throwing themselves onto Levi whilst Hange pretended to cry, “Levi, my baby is growing up so fast,”.

“Get off me four eyes” Levi snapped pushing Hange off him who lost their balance and fell to the floor but that didn’t seem to phase them as Hange pushed themselves to their feet grinning. Eren laughed, the dynamic between Hange and Levi hadn’t changed since he last saw them together.

“What you are laughing at brat?!” Levi said glaring at Eren, but it didn’t have the same ferocity behind it as it would direct towards someone Levi didn’t really know or like.

“Nothing Levi” Eren giggled. Levi’s eyes softened and a small smile appeared on his lips.

“Aww, Big Bad Levi is smiling” Hange cooed throwing themselves at Levi once more, who stepped out of their way and Hange fell to the floor once more.

“It’s good to see you Eren,” Erwin said rolling his eyes at his subordinates and close friends’ actions, “How have you been? Have you remembered anything?”.

“I’ve been fine Erwin; a lot has happened since I last saw you but I’ve been coping well,” Eren said, unlike Levi, Hange, and Moblit, Eren had hardly seen Erwin, he had visited him occasionally but not as regularly as Moblit and Hange had been or Levi, “I’ve remembered bits and pieces but not anything consistent”.

“Ooh, like what?” Hange asked.

“I remember that I have an older brother Zeke, my parents are Grisha and Dina Yeager but from what I remember they are probably dead and apparently they did something horrible. The only other thing I can remember is that I inherited something from another traitor, and they took me underground to ‘inherit it’ but I don’t know what. That’s all I can really remember… oh I know how to fight, I got into an altercation with another cadet days after joining the training corps and one moment I’m sat down the next I’m stood up and the cadet is on the floor,’ Eren explained, he kept the dream he had a secret for now, not that he felt they wouldn’t believe him, Eren was fairly sure Hange would believe anything he said but he felt like he couldn’t say anything not when he didn’t understand what that dream was about. He had no idea what the paths were, he had no idea what he inherited, and he had no idea who that girl was.

“Taken underground?” Levi said, “in Wall Sina, there is an underground city filled with criminals, if Eren lived there then it might make sense why your parents are considered treacherous and how you ended outside the walls,”.

“What are you thinking, Levi?” Erwin asked.

“Inheriting something could mean some title or a family heirloom. If Eren grew up in the underground, it would explain why you knew how to fight, that skill is vital to surviving in that place. Your parents could have done something in the underground which got them killed, and if they tried to get rid of the entire family, it might explain why we found you outside the walls. The best place to dispose of a body is outside the walls. Someone could have knocked you out or thought you were dead and put you in a scouting regiment wagon which was taken outside the walls. Maybe you fell off the wagon when you woke up, knocked your head, and stumbled into that forest where Shadis found you. It could explain your memory loss,” Levi explained.

“That seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to dispose of a body,” Hange said. Levi shrugged.

“It is, but the wagons aren’t checked in the morning when we leave on an expedition, so in theory, it wouldn’t be hard to hide a body in the wagon. We lose so many people outside the walls we don’t recover that we probably wouldn’t notice it,” Levi said. He knew it sounded impossible, but he knew what lengths someone in the underground would go to, to hide a body.

“Whilst that sounds likely we can’t rule for definite that it did in fact happened like you suggest Levi,” Erwin said before turning to Eren who had stayed quiet so far, “You're slowly remembering stuff about your life so there is a chance that you will remember everything but don’t worry if you don’t,”.

“I know,” Eren said, “but a part of me wants to know what happened in my life before I met you whilst another part of me is scared to find out,”.

“It doesn’t matter Eren,” Hange said wrapping their arms around Eren pulling him close, “who you are and what you are doing now is what matters,”.

“Thanks, Hange,” Eren said, pulling away from them, “I better prepare for the test,”.

“You better. I didn’t train you to slack off,” Levi snapped at him, but his voice didn’t hold any malice, “I’m expecting to see perfection and nothing less,”.

“Yes Sir,” Eren said, saluting before running off to get his gear.

* * *

They had teamed Eren up with Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir, and Christa whilst Connie and Sasha were with Marco and Jean. Eren hadn’t paid attention to the other groups. Instead, he focused on Levi and Hange, who were standing beside the two titans. According to Shadis, there were twelve checkpoints hidden throughout the forest they were meant to find whilst avoiding the two titans who were being released whilst being followed by their handlers – Levi and Hange. Hange following the seven-meter and Levi with the fifteen-meter.

“You will have a five-minute head start, then the titans will be released. Wait for the starting signal, it’s the same as the scouting regiment used to change direction,” Shadis smirked knowing full well only one person amongst the cadets knew the signal which was why he used it.

“And what would that fucking be?” Ymir growled in annoyance at their instructor. Eren grinned.

“Green signal flare,” Eren said, his grin only widened when a green flare emanated from inside the forest, Eren could only assume that Erwin was the one who fired it considering he was the only person currently not present in the courtyard. The others seemed to falter, staring at the flare whilst Eren’s team took off. He only just heard Hange screaming ‘he could do it’ before he propelled himself into the air and into the forest. The first checkpoint had been easy to find – it was three trees into the forest, probably placed there to give the cadets some confidence to find the rest of them. Erwin must have created this course because like hell would Shadis do something so kind.

“Names,” the soldier said when the team landed on the branch.

“Eren Yeager, Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover, Ymir and Christa Lenz” Eren recited. The soldier nodded quickly jotted their names down on a piece of paper before signaling to them to continue.

“We should aim to find as many as we can before the titans are released” Eren shouted to the others, he knew Erwin, he had seen him work at his desk in the room they shared for months, so he could probably guess where Erwin roughly put each checkpoint, they would have been evenly spaced out throughout the forest, some being easier to find than others.

“Where should we look first?” Reiner asked.

“We should probably search the front of the forest, then work our way to the back. Each checkpoint is going to be evenly spaced out through the forest, each varying in difficulty to find, some are going to be obvious whilst others are going to be hidden. We must keep an eye out looking for places which would be perfect to hide in,” Eren explained landing on a branch letting the others catch up with him. He could easily forget that they weren’t at his level of skill.

“How can you be so sure?” Christa asked, Eren shrugged. It wasn’t like he could tell them he had lived with the scouting regiment, could he?

“It’s just a suspicion,” he said. Not even ten seconds later, his suspicion was proven right when Eren noticed their second checkpoint, they had nearly gone straight past it, the soldier was hidden among the leaves and if he hadn’t accidentally rustled some leaves, then Eren wouldn’t have noticed them but because Levi had hammered into Eren about relying on his senses to work out where to hear, feel or smell the titans before seeing them, it meant that small movement from the soldier had given their position away to Eren. A minute later they found another checkpoint this time more visible than the last one, Ymir opened her mouth to speak when a red flare shot up into the sky.

“What was that?” Reiner asked, looking at Eren for some explanation.

“For the scouting regiment red means titan sighted, they’re probably using it to alert us that the titans have entered the forest,” Eren said, Christa paled, and Ymir wrapped her arm around her.

“What should we do now?” Bertholdt asked as he subconsciously moved closer to Reiner, seeking support.

“We should head to the back of the forest and look there before working our way forward. It’s most likely the titans will go after the closest human smell so it’s unlikely they will come after us if we are all the way at the back so we should realistically only run into the titans when we come back to search the front or the middle of the forest later on and the other teams have moved further into the forest” Eren explained, Hange had always said that smell was the titans best sense and unless they were abnormals, they would seek a large closest human group, then something further away and consider Hange said themselves that abnormals were tricky to capture Eren really doubted that the seven and fifteen meter titans were abnormals. The others nodded before jumping off the branch and flew towards the other side of the forest, putting as much distance as they could between them and the titans.

* * *

Everything had been going well, they had found six of the twelve checkpoints. They hadn’t run into any other teams so Eren could only guess they were still near the front of the forest, which meant so were the titans and probably the remaining checkpoints they had yet to find. They needed to create a plan which would maximise their chances of finding the checkpoints but minimise the risk of running into any titans. Eren opened his mouth to ask just that question, but before he could get any words out, he heard it. A bone chilling scream which made his entire body freeze. What made it worse was he knew that voice. That voice belonged to Hange.

* * *

Eren barely waited for the others as he took off gliding through the forest going in the scream's direction. He knew Hange. They would never scream unless they were taken off guard and considering Hange was meant to be following a titan, Eren could only imagine what had happened. It was worse than he imagined when he finally arrived, landing beside Jean. Eren watched in horror as the seven-meter titan held Hange in its one hand. The metal plate which was meant to be covering both its one arm and mouth were gone.

“What happened?” Eren asked Jean as he looked at the others. Marco, Connie, and Sasha were there too, but there was no sign of Levi, Erwin, or any other skilled soldier.

“Connie accidentally cut its arm off whilst Squad Leader Hange was dealing with an injured Sasha. One of her cables had snapped and cut her leg. Squad Leader was checking over her when Connie shouted, but by the time anyone had reacted, the titan’s arm had regenerated, and somehow pulled off the metal plate over its mouth. It went for Connie, but the Squad Leader pushed him out the way and it grabbed them instead,” Jean explained, his voice wobbled every so often showing how scared the horse face boy really was. Eren gulped as he turned to look at Hange whilst his team arrived, only just catching up with him. Hange was still in the titan’s hand, but now it was moving it towards its open mouth.

All Eren’s ability to think had been thrown out the window as he jumped off the branch he had landed on, barely listening to Marco and Christa shouting his name as he flew towards Hange. The titan stopped moving its hand to its mouth instead its eyes watched Eren apparently becoming more interested in the human in front of it instead of the one in its hand, but it still didn’t let Hange go. Eren swooped under the titan's arm barely avoiding its teeth as it tried to grab him out of the air but Eren expertly manoeuvred around it, he stopped releasing gas, allowing himself to free fall a little which took him out of the titan’s mouth reach before shooting out his cables into the titan’s other still bound arm and swung himself around so he was now positioned behind the titan. Its eyes were still tracking him but Eren just grinned, the titan was too big to turn around quickly so he used that advantage and released a little more gas than usual and shot around to the other side of the titan raising his blades bringing them down onto the part of the titan’s arm where it bends and severed it in one fell swoop. Steam gushed out of the wound, but Eren didn’t care as he watched Hange use their own gear to get back up to safety. Eren felt his heart relax, only to tense up again when he heard Levi shouting.

* * *

Levi knew this test was a ridiculous idea, he had tried to stop Erwin from agreeing to do it but Erwin saw it would be a good opportunity for the cadets to familiarise themselves being in the presence of titans but Levi knew something like this would happen and now the cadets were at risk and Hange was in the fucking grasp of a titan. Hange themselves looked like they were having a whale of a time because of course, that fucking idiot would enjoy themselves when they are so close to death, Levi could only be glad that Moblit stayed at headquarters because he was sure that Hange’s boyfriend would have had a heart attack if he saw this.

“Shit” Levi swore when he finally saw the titan. The cadets were spread out whilst on the tree branches watching frozen whilst another cadet swooped underneath the titan’s one arm just missing the teeth which nearly clamped down onto the cadet. Levi recognised that movement, how couldn’t he! It was the same technique he taught that brat all those years ago, hell out of all the cadets, Eren was the only person trained enough to deal with a titan, the others still had two years to go until they should be prepared to face one if anything this test should have been delayed two years. Eren swung behind the titan faster than Levi’s eyes could keep up, and before he could even realise it, Eren had chopped the arm off and Hange was free. He was going to kill that four eyes if they ever pulled a stunt like this again.

“Eren kill it” Levi shouted. He saw the titan move again, aiming for another human. This time it was a cadet. The stupidly tall one. Levi didn’t want to put Eren at any more risk, but even he knew he couldn’t make it in time before the titan had taken a large bite out of the tall cadet.

Eren didn’t think, he just reacted. He severed the tendons in the titan’s legs first, causing it to collapse onto its knees, releasing his damaged blades before hooking up his spares all whilst he glided to the nape. Eren knew he was acting like a show off, but he didn’t care as he moved towards the titan’s nape in a continuous spin, only stopping after he felt his blades cut the titan's nape. He couldn’t help but smirk as he watched the rest of the titan’s steaming body slump to the floor – he couldn’t believe it; he had just killed his first titan, and he hadn’t even graduated yet.

Eren shot his cables into the nearest tree branch landing right in front of Mikasa who was staring at him eyes wide. Eren smirked as he sheeted his blades, “See Ackerman, I don’t need your protection”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is alright with where this chapter ended originally it was planned to have more into this chapter after the test but as I was writing it I felt like this was a perfect place to end this chapter so now I've decided to include what was left in the next chapter. Also, the next chapter will finish up Eren's training and we will be moving on to the next part in his life - being with the scouting regiment! I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to it!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first half of this chapter will focus on the aftermath of the test and then the rest of the chapter will be finishing up Eren's training before graduating!

The test stopped after Eren killed the seven-metre titan, Shadis and Erwin determined it to be too dangerous to continue and they killed the other fifteen-metre titan much to Hange’s horror. Eren felt bad, he did, Hange loved their titans. They crafted names and personalities for the titans they brought inside the walls, and considering it was difficult to capture and transport the titans, they rarely gave Hange the go-ahead to capture any.

“I’m so sorry Hange, if Levi hadn’t given me the order to kill Alexander then I wouldn’t have,” Eren apologised, but Hange shook their head.

“Don’t worry about it Eren, Alexander I can understand, we don’t have the equipment to secure the metal plate over his mouth and arm again,” Hange said trying to reassure the cadet, “I just can’t understand Kenny. He had done nothing wrong, he had been a good titan and Erwin gave the order to kill him, why Erwin why,”.

Erwin, who was walking a little in front of them, turned to look at Hange. Tears were streaming down their cheeks.

“Transporting a titan is a colossal job as it is, today we’ve discovered that somehow they can escape their binding, we can’t risk this happening again, especially if we are in transit inside the walls. I’m sorry Hange, I really am but we had to kill the other titan,’ Erwin said and Hange pouted, muttering under their breath that ‘you could’ve let me say goodbye first’ before sulking off to the empty wagons.

“Ignore them brat, I for one is proud of you today. You proved that my and the military’s training is making a difference. Not any cadet could have done what you did today, so you should be proud of yourself,” Levi said, stopping beside Eren whilst Shadis and Erwin continued.

“It honestly felt like a dream, that I’ve killed a titan. When I was attacking it trying to save Hange, I felt like another person, that I wasn’t Eren who has hardly any memories but Eren Yeager who’s skilled enough a soldier with the scouting regiment,” Eren smiled, it would take a while for the events of today processed through his mind. Although he could only guess that the other cadets would talk about this for some time to come, especially those who had been there and watched everything unfold.

“Eren, you still have two years left of your training and you’re capable of this, then I for one can’t wait to see where you go from here. When you join the scouting regiment after you graduate, it won’t be as a recruit, you will be among the elites. And I will make sure that whatever squad you end up on that you’re treated like an elite and not a rookie because you are far from that. Few cadets can say that they’ve killed a titan before they’ve graduated,” Levi said and Eren felt his cheeks warm up, he was used to praise, from Carla and from the instructors but from Levi, from humanities strongest that mean more to him than anyone could understand or believe, he was putting in all this hard work to impress Levi because to Eren, Levi, Hange and Moblit’s opinions of him was all that matters. He wanted them to be proud of him, “Eren, you could easy surpass me and become humanity’s strongest,”.

“What! No!” Eren said frantically, shaking his head, “I could never replace you, Levi!”.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Levi started as he looked away from Eren and his cheeks lightly blushed pink, “If there was anyone, I had to share my title with then… I wouldn’t mind if it were you, brat,”.

“Levi!” Hange shouted, preventing Eren from replying, “We have to go! Bye-bye Eren, Moblit and I will miss you!”.

“Bye Hange, say hello to Moblit from me will you” Eren shouted back but turned to look at Levi who had his prominent scowl on his face whilst he glared over at Hange.

“Shitty Four-eyes, doesn’t know when to keep their nose out of things,” Levi grumbled before looking back at Eren, “We probably won’t be able to see you again until you graduate but Hange will write to you about whatever titans they see on our upcoming expedition. Bye brat,”.

“Bye Levi,” Eren said waving goodbye as Levi walked off. Eren watched as the three members of the scouting regiment saddle up and took off down the narrow winding path away from camp. Eren let out a sigh. That would be the last time he saw them for a long while. It was strange how he had gone from seeing them nearly every month to he’s lucky to see them once a year. Hange and Levi were important to him.

“So, Levi huh” Ymir smirked as she and Reiner threw their arms around Eren’s neck and watched as Eren’s cheeks turned scarlet red.

“W-what about him?” Eren stuttered, he was so caught up in being with Levi and Hange he hadn’t noticed people watching him.

“Well, we just saw how you were looking at him,” Reiner started whilst Ymir continued, “Don’t worry Eren it’s perfectly natural to have a crush on someone, especially someone like humanities strongest,”.

“What!” Eren said, his voice raised an octave and his cheeks flushed a darker red, “I-I don’t have a c-crush on L-levi I respect him for who he is! Me crush nope never,”.

Ymir and Reiner shared a look and smirked, “Aw our little Eren, look like someone has fallen that deep,”.

“Don’t worry, Eren!” Ymir said, “Reiner and I will help you get into Levi’s pants,”.

Reiner started laughing whilst the whole of Eren’s face turned red, “Ymir! Reiner!”.

* * *

Mikasa couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. Eren killed a titan. The scouting regiment trusted Eren’s abilities that much that Captain Levi ordered Eren to kill a titan. Hell, he even knew Eren’s name. Mikasa knew that the scouting regiment had found Eren when he lost his memories and that they contacted Carla, asking her to open her home to Eren. Armin and Mikasa had tried many times to get any information out of Eren about his time with the scouting regiment but he had always said that he hadn’t been there longer than a week so he didn’t get to know any of them but today showed that Eren had been lying to them, to her. She had seen how close Eren was to Captain Levi and Squad Leader Hange, the way they interacted with each other, the way Eren was happy to talk with them when in theory they were his superiors. 

“Armin” Mikasa started as she walked over to her childhood friend, “Have you heard what Eren did today?”.

“He killed a titan Mika; the whole training Corps is talking about it,” Armin said. Throughout this year at the training corps, he had seen how talented Eren was with the ODM gear, but Armin had never expected for Eren to pull something like that out of the bag. Armin hadn’t been there to see it but Connie and Sasha were practically gushing about what Eren did to the other cadets, so he got the picture of what had happened, “Mika, you understand that Eren will end up in the scouting regiment now no matter what, he’s talented enough to be considered an elite and the scouting regiment wouldn’t want to lose out on that potential. Eren’s ability and skill are probably worth a hundred or more soldiers. Hell, I would even say that Eren could be at the same level as Captain Levi,”.

“Armin,” Mikasa started, “When Eren was with the scouting regiment for that brief time. Do you think they trained him on the ODM gear?”.

“Yes. I think Eren was with the scouting regiment longer than a week, a month at best, or maybe even longer. I think he knew Instructor Shadis when he was the commander and I think they did in fact train him on the ODM gear, it’s why he didn’t have to do that balancing test at the start of our training, he already knew how to use the gear,” Armin said, it made sense. There was a lot about Eren they didn’t know, and he had become more of a mystery during their training, his in-depth knowledge on titans and his instant skill and ability to use the ODM gear.

“Hey Armin, I’ve badly messed up with Eren, didn’t I. He was going to become a scouting regiment soldier regardless of what we said” Mikasa said, it was time she finally accepted what she did, and how it was her fault that Eren wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

“Yeah Mika, you messed up” Armin agreed as they watched their fellow cadets surround Eren. They both messed up.

* * *

Eren never felt like this before. After the scouting regiment had left and Reiner and Ymir finally stopped teasing him, the rest of the training corps surrounded him. All shouting questions about what he did and how it felt like to kill a titan. It felt exhilarating. Eren could only imagine what the scouting regiment soldiers felt when they went into titan territory when they killed their first titan and survived their first trip outside the walls. Cadets surrounded Eren he called his friends and for the first time since they found him outside the walls with no memories, Eren felt he had truly found a purpose for his life. And he knew what he wanted to do next. He wanted to finish his training and join the scouting regiment. He wanted to find out who he is and what happened to him outside Wall Maria.

* * *

~2 years later~

Gemini hated being here any longer than they already had, finding the Founding Titan had become near impossible, they had wasted precious years of their brief lifespan running around after a ghost than serving their hometown but they couldn’t fail their mission and that’s why Gemini had called this meeting, so they could plan what they need to do before they are separated into their different regiments.

“I’ve been thinking recently about what we will do when we join our regiments, obviously we will all be separated and we will have to be careful when communicating so if anyone reads or intercepts our letters it will look like a couple of cadets catching up, of course, we will use Marley’s method to hide and read the true intention of our letters,” Gemini said, they wouldn’t be able to meet up any longer and discuss their plan in person, so communication will be key and ensuring no one found out about the titan shifters and the threat to the island devils.

“Should we discuss who’s going to what regiment, we’ve all predicted to make it into the top ten, but before you said ideally only two people really need to be in each regiment. I’ve already made a promise with another cadet to join the Military Police if I get into the top ten. I will look suspicious if I go back on my word now,” Jaws said. They all had always been pretty vocal about joining the Military Police, so Jaws wasn’t really sure how they could suddenly explain someone’s change of mind.

“Jaws I understand your circumstances so if you do in fact get into the top ten then you will be one of those who join the Military Police. I’m assuming that you two don’t want to be separated,” Gemini said looking over at Reiner and Bertholdt, his fellow warriors nodded, “then it will be wise if you join the Garrison, maybe one of you has a change of heart and the other follows, that might be the only way for you to get around it. This leaves you, Annie, it will be safe to say you will join the Military Police with Jaws,”.

“But that would mean, you are joining the scouting regiment,” Bertholdt said, and Gemini nodded.

“We need to check out all leads that include the scouting regiment, and considering I am the Vice-Captain of the Warrior Unit, it’s my duty to protect the rest of you. Therefore, I alone with join the scouting regiment and investigate Commander Erwin Smith and Squad Leaders,” Gemini said, “However, that will only happen if we can’t force the founder out from hiding,”.

“Does that mean what I think it does?” Reiner asked, looking at Gemini. He knew they had suggested it before, but they’ve never decided whether they were going to do it. Gemini nodded.

“We’re going to destroy Wall Rose,”.

* * *

Could he do it again, take on his colossal form and destroy Wall Rose, what if it doesn’t work? What if the devils attack him and kill him before he has a chance to breach the wall? He had been lucky last time because no one was prepared for a sixty-metre titan to suddenly appear and destroy the outer wall of Wall Maria but this time, these last five years the island devils had been preparing for an attack from the Colossal Titan.

“You’re scared aren’t you, Bertl,” Reiner said, sitting down beside his boyfriend and wrapping his arm around Bertholdt’s shoulders, pulling his boyfriend in close.

“I don’t want to let anyone down Reiner, but I’m scared that if I transform and these devils get to me before I’m able to destroy the gate. If I can’t then our entire mission falls apart” Bertholdt voiced his concerns to his boyfriend, Reiner was the only person Bertholdt could come to with this, Annie would just tell him to man up and shut up. Jaws were too busy being surrounded by the other cadets and he just couldn’t approach Gemini.

“You won’t Bertl, I know you can do it. I believe in you. Tonight, we will celebrate graduating and tomorrow, we’ll worry about what the future holds. There’s nothing we can do right now, so let’s not stress about it. I’m sure we’ll have a solid plan in place by the time we have to breach the walls” Reiner said, he understood where his boyfriend was coming from, these island devils had worked hard to prevent their precious walls from being breached again but the devils were still at a disadvantage, they didn’t know that the Colossal Titan and the Armoured Titan had humans hiding in the napes of their titan forms and as long as they didn’t find out then they could never ready themselves enough to fight them, Reiner had his armour, Bertholdt had his steam. The devils didn’t have the weapons to fight them.

“You’re right as always, I honestly wouldn’t know what to do without you Reiner,” Bertholdt said before kissing Reiner’s cheek.

“You’re just as important to me as I am to you Bertl” Reiner replied taking the palm of his hand resting it on Bertholdt’s cheek before guiding his boyfriend’s face down and pressed their lips together in a passionate kiss.

* * *

Three long years of hardship had led up to this moment – their graduation. Eren didn’t care whether or not he was in the top ten, he was joining the scouting regiment just like he had always dreamed off. Tonight would be the last night he would be with his friends until they whisked him away to the Scouting Regiment Headquarters. A place he hadn’t step foot in since he left it over five years ago, yet even though that amount of time had passed, Eren could still clearly picture the headquarters in his mind. The mess hall, the titan research area, the sleeping quarters, the commander’s office and the training grounds. Everything was still fresh in his mind as if it were like he had never left. He was coming full circle, living in the headquarters as a child, and now he would return as a fully-fledged member of the scouting regiment.

But first, he needed to graduate. The cadets of the 104th had been summoned to the courtyard by Instructor Shadis and made to stand in rows of ten. The air was buzzing as everyone waited with bated breath for Shadis to address them and announces those who had made it into the top 10.

“Today you magots have completed your military training,” Shadis said before pulling a piece of paper listing those who made it into the top ten from his pocket, “I will now announce the ten among you who have obtained the top training results. Come forward if I call your name,”.

“Number ten, Ymir” Shadis shouted, Eren smiled as he watched his best friend walk out of her line and to the front.

“Number nine, Christa Lenz”. Eren heard Christa let out a sigh of relief as she stood next to Ymir.

“Number eight, Sasha Blouse,”.

“Number seven, Connie Springer,”.

“Number six, Marco Bodt,”.

“Number five, Jean Kirschstein,”.

“Number four, Annie Leonhart,”.

“Number three, Bertholdt Hoover,”.

“Number two, Reiner Braun,”.

“And our top-ranking graduate, Eren Yeager,”. 

“Now you have graduated, you can join one of the three military regiments. You can join the Garrisons, protecting towns and reinforcing the walls. Or the Scouting Regiment, who risk their lives beyond the walls, in Titan territory. Or the Military Police who serve the King, lead the people, and protect internal order,” Shadis continued, he had spotted Levi and Hange waiting in the back watching the graduation begin, just as Eren’s recommendation stated, he was required to leave the training corps right away after his graduation so Shadis shouldn’t be surprised that Levi and Hange were already here to take him away, “Of course, only the top then students, whose names were just announced can join the Military Police,”.

“Most of you will decide what regiment you will enter by the end of the following week but for now you are dismissed,” Shadis said, everyone quickly saluted before they ran off to the mess hall to celebrate graduating, “Yeager, you have special circumstances stay here,”.

Eren quickly excused himself from his friend's group and ran over to the instructor.

“As you know for your recommendation, you are officially a member of the scouting regiment and will leave for their headquarters tonight. I’ve already seen Levi and Hange, but I suggest before you go looking for them, you should collect your things and say your goodbyes. Unlike you, the others aren’t enthusiastic about joining the scouting regiment so this might be the last time you see any of your fellow recruits for some time,” Shadis said, he suspects that maybe Arlert and Ackerman will follow Eren but with the others, he can’t be sure, those who can’t join the Military Police normally go into the Garrisons, only maybe one or two people will think about joining the scouting regiment.

“I will, I’m already packed so I’ll say my goodbyes to everyone, I doubt Levi and Hange will want to wait around much longer,” Eren said. He felt giddy with excitement. He was joining the scouting regiment; he was really joining the scouting regiment.

“Eren be… be careful. I know the scouting regiment is going on an expedition in a couple of days. You need to be prepared for anything to happen outside the walls and you need to make it back alive. We can’t have a repeat of when I found you as a child” Shadis said, he knew the facts and figures with how many soldiers they lose on expeditions outside the walls, he knew how many didn’t make it back and he knew that most of those were recruits fresh out of training. He didn’t want Eren to become another fact and figure.

“I promise, I’ll be careful,” Eren said smiling, he was stronger. Faster. Better. He trusted his abilities, but he wouldn’t risk it, he would be careful. He would make it back alive. He saluted his instructor and ran back over to his friends; they were talking about what they wanted to do when they joined the Military Police.

“Now that I think about it, how come Mikasa wasn’t in the top ten I thought she would at least get second place,” Connie said, Ymir rolled her eyes whilst Reiner and Bertholdt shook their heads.

“That’s because Mikasa gave up her place in the top ten two years ago when she messed around with Yeager’s equipment, remember,” Jean said through gritted teeth.

“Oh yeah, that happened” Connie spluttered embarrassed whilst Sasha laughed.

“What did Shadis want?” Reiner asked Eren when he noticed that his fellow cadet had joined them.

“He just told me that Captain Levi and Squad Leader Hange were already here to collect me and told me to make my goodbyes” Eren answered, he would quickly say goodbye to this lot then he would find Armin before collecting his things from the barracks.

“I can’t believe you got the top spot in the top ten yet you’re giving up your place in the Military Police to join the scouting regiment,” Sasha said and Eren agreed. He wasn’t sure why Shadis gave him the top spot when he more than well knew that Eren could only enter the scouting regiment.

“It’s the conditions on my recommendation,” Eren said, “Instructor Shadis knew that, so I don’t get why he considered me for any spot in the top ten,”.

“Recommendation?” Christa asked, and Eren froze. He had forgotten he had told no one about the recommendation he got from Levi to join the training corps.

“Ah… yeah,” Eren started unsure how on earth he was going to explain this without revealing too much of his past, “Captain Levi wrote me a letter of recommendation when I joined the training corps but it stated that when I graduated I had to complete at least a year of service with the scouting regiment before I’m allowed to change regiments,”.

“Eren,” Jean started, “How well do you know Captain Levi for him to give you a letter of recommendation,”.

Eren went red and sputtered out, “I h-have no, no i-idea what you are talking about. I only met him during that test. I need to go, say goodbye to Armin. So, um… goodbye, I wish you luck in your military career,”.

Everyone watched as Eren turned around and ran off towards the mess hall, leaving them stunned.

“Eren knows we can tell when he’s lying, right?” Jean said, resisting the urge to sigh and roll his eyes. The others hummed in agreement.

* * *

“Here you go, Marco,” Jean said, walking over to his friend with two plates in his hands. After the whole Eren incident. Marco and Jean had left the others and headed to the mess hall to join in on the celebrations, Marco had grabbed them a table whilst Jean set about securing them something to eat, “Have you decided which regiment you’re going to apply to? I know we still have a week to decide but I’d like to already make my decision so I’m not stressing about it during our last week of freedom”.

“Military Police, I want to serve the king, it’s been my dream since I was a child but also,” Marco stated, “I’m scared of seeing a titan again. Unlike Eren, I’m not brave enough to fight them. That test confirmed so much, and it might be the coward’s way out, but I’d feel safer if I were living inside Wall Sina. What about you? I know throughout our training you’re were very vocal on joining the Military Police,”.

“My mind hasn’t changed; I’m looking forward to a comfortable life in the interior. Far away from any titans,” Jean said, and Marco raised an eyebrow.

“But,” he said, prompting for Jean to continue.

“I won’t deny that I haven’t thought about joining the Scouting Regiment, normally after Eren showed off and I kind of wanted to one-up him, but then I talk some sense into myself. Like you, the test showed me how terrifying the titans are and how dangerous they can be, I don’t want to experience that again. When a trained member of the scouting regiment nearly dies in front of you, it makes you wonder what hope there is for us cadets,” Jean said. He didn’t want to lose Marco to the titans. These last three years, the freckled boy had become somewhat important to Jean.

“Then we’ll join the Military Police together,” Marco said grinning at Jean, who felt his heart skip a beat.

“Y-yeah, together,”.

* * *

Levi wanted to give Eren enough time to say his goodbyes to his friends before being forced to leave. There was no chance that Eren would see some of these again, especially those in the top ten who would go on to the Military Police. For members of the scouting regiment and garrisons, there was no reason to enter the inner wall and the members of the military police kept themselves separate from the rest of the military unless you’re a garrison member working inside Wall Shina. But because it wasn’t humanity’s last defence, there wasn’t that many garrison members needed to defend the wall.

Levi and Hange found Eren surrounded by his fellow cadets, his bag in hand. Levi wasn’t surprised when Shadis told him that Eren had received first place in the top ten, to Levi no one else was deserving of first place other than Eren. He was hardworking, determined, and extremely skilled. Levi still wasn’t sure whose squad Eren would be in for the expedition outside the walls which will take place in a couple of days but Levi knew that out of everyone in the scouting regiment, Eren was more than capable of handling himself whilst outside the walls. But that didn’t mean Levi and Hange hadn’t pestered Erwin to find out what squad the Commander planned to put Eren on, for different reasons that were. Hange wanted Eren a part of their squad whilst Levi planned to intimidate the Squad Leader so they understood just how important Eren was to him and that Levi wouldn’t accept the Squad Leader treating Eren like he wasn’t capable. There was a reason they were inducting him into the scouting regiment a week ahead of schedule.

“Eren” Hange shouted, waving their hands around like a lunatic whilst they walked over to Eren.

“Hange! Levi!” Eren said, before muttering something to the people he was with and running over to meet them halfway, “Are we leaving soon?”.

“Soon brat” Levi said pulling the satchel off his back and opened it up pulling out a brown jacket and green cloak and handed them over to Eren, “You’re joining the scouting regiment, you need the correct jacket and cloak”.

Eren pulled the brown jacket he was wearing off and tucked it between his knees before putting his scouting regiment jacket on followed by the cloak.

“Welcome to the Scouting Regiment Eren,” Hange said, pretending to wipe a tear from underneath their eye.

“Thank you for having me,” Eren said doing the salute. It was official he is a member of the scouting regiment. And he was more than ready to dedicate his heart to the cause. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I haven't updated last weekend when I normally do, I was ill and later my laptop charger broke in the laptop port so I've been struggling to get that fixed yay me! I'm hoping to still update this weekend so all going well you'll have a double update this week! Anywho enough about me, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The sun shone high in the sky when Hange, Levi, and Eren arrived at the Scouting Regiment Headquarters. The courtyard was a hive of activity as the members prepared for the upcoming expedition. Eren was more than excited to venture outside the walls once more. He felt caged, like an animal ready for slaughter trapped inside its cage, waiting for the inevitable. Whilst he knew that being in Titan territory wasn't a walk in the park either Eren, unlike other new recruits, knew the fear that titans installed in people and he knew how to kill them, he had already proved that he was worthy of his place in the scouting regiment during that test two years ago when his fellow cadets, Levi and Hange witnessed Eren take down a titan.

"Squad Leader Hange, Captain Levi" Moblit shouted as he darted through the courtyard as Hange, Levi and Eren climbed down from their horses and let the current squad in charge of the horses take them back to the stable, "Eren it's good to see you again".

"Hello, Moblit! It's been a long time!" Eren said, smiling at Hange's assistant and boyfriend. After the titan incident with Hange, Eren had received letters after letters from Moblit expressing how grateful and thankful he was for Eren saving Hange's life.

"Moblit! Did you miss me?!" Hange shouted, throwing their arms around Moblit and kissing their boyfriend's cheek, who promptly turned red.

"Oi shitty glasses. Leave him alone. Berner, what do you want?" Levi snapped.

"R-right! Commander Erwin asked to see you and Eren" Moblit said and Levi sighed. They've been traveling throughout the night to get here and they weren't even letting their new recruit rest. Yes, Levi and Hange had worked on less sleep, but it wasn't fair on Eren.

"Damn eyebrows probably want to debrief you on tomorrow's expedition and tell you which squad he's put you in" Levi cursed but nevertheless, he escorted Eren to the commander's office. Not that Eren needed escorting, considering it was still in the same place it had been when Shadis had occupied it. Levi didn't waste any time knocking on the door: instead, he threw it open and marched inside with Eren behind him.

"Ah, Levi you're back," Erwin said putting his paperwork to the side and gestures for Levi and Eren to sit, "It's good to see you again Eren, please have a seat we have much to discuss,".

"Hello, Commander Erwin" Eren greeted. He wasn't sure what he was meant to be like around Erwin, Levi, and Hange. They were now all his superiors; does that mean he has to use their titles and start acting professionally around them, the same people he's known since he was nine.

"Whilst we alone Eren I don't mind you still referring to me as Erwin and I'm sure that is the same with Levi and Hange, we've known each other longer than we can drop the titles. We will only use them when we're around others who don't know your situation," Erwin said and Eren nodded, he could work with that, after all, he had shared a room with Erwin during the many months he was with the scouting regiment. It was like having your best friend suddenly becoming your boss, "Now, as you may know, Eren. The scouting regiment is going on an expedition tomorrow, normally we don't allow recruits to come on an expedition days after graduating however as I've discussed much time with Levi, Hange, and Mike and we've decided that you're not really a recruit, you have more experience with titans then anyone previously joining the scouting regiment and your skills surpass some of our elites. That is why, if Levi agrees, I want to put you on Levi's Squad for this upcoming expedition. One, you will be surrounded by skilled soldiers on your first expedition so you will be well protected and two, I want to show the other soldiers how skilled you are, you don't need to be treated like a recruit but a competent soldier. Of course, if you rather be on Hange's squad then I completely understand, I know how close you are,".

"I don't mind having you on my squad brat, so it's up to you," Levi said, after the first expedition and Eren's skills came to light to the others, Levi had planned to transfer Eren to his squad regardless, if Eren were on Levi's squad right away then the other soldiers would recognise that Eren must be skilled to instantly be brought onto Levi's squad right out of graduation. He was sure that Eren would get along with Eld, Gunther, and Petra easily whilst Oluo might try to intimidate Eren, but once he sees Eren's skill, he should respect him.

"I would like to be on Levi's Squad, please," Eren said, ignoring the way his heart missed a beat at the thought of being close to Levi during the expedition.

"Okay, now with that cleared up I need to discuss our expedition. The aims of the expedition are to scavenge nearby abandoned villages close to the wall to see whether we can create small supply bases within the homes for storage, titans are drawn by the scent of humans so they should ignore the houses completely, if we are going to reclaim Wall Maria then we need extra supplies on route," Erwin explained, before grabbing a rolled-up scroll and opened it out, "We will use my Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation, it's a formation that I devised which allows squads to have a full view of their surroundings and it has increased the chances of survival, soldiers are set apart at intervals, allowing them to see in all directions and widening the detection range. When a soldier sees a titan, they fire off a red flare throughout the formation until it reaches Centre Front where I am, I will then fire a green flare in a direction to avoid the titan and we will change course. If we see an abnormal titan, then a soldier will fire a black flare however, sometimes abnormals cannot be avoided, and we must kill them. Levi's squad will be in the front right wing. Does this make sense?".

Eren nodded, had he not been with Erwin whilst he had been working on his improvements to his formation design then this would have been a lot of information to suddenly take in especially considering the expedition is tomorrow but as long as Eren had the chance to sit down and look through it early the following morning then he should be fine.

"If you have any questions don't feel afraid to ask, you know where my office is and I'm sure Hange and Levi will happily answer any questions," Erwin said shooting a pointed look at Levi before opening his desk drawer and pulling out some more papers, "these need to be filled in by the end of today its only basic information forms, and this is a map of headquarters although I'm sure you still remember your way around, the area coloured in is your room. I'm sure you would like to rest a bit after your long journey from the Training Corps, I would use this time wisely to fill out your forms and start preparing for tomorrow".

"Thank you, Erwin," Eren said, taking the forms from the commander and standing up and exiting the office.

"I'll leave you here brat, I'm going to inform my squad of our new member, I'll introduce you tomorrow, give you time to settle in before having them four forced onto you," Levi said, he would have to talk Oluo around to having another squad member first and what he should and shouldn't do when they meet Eren, "I would grab some food from the mess hall first, you still remember the way,".

"Ah, yes, I still remember the way," Eren said waving goodbye before disappearing in the direction of the mess hall.

* * *

After quickly darting into the mess hall to have some breakfast, keeping out of the other soldier’s ways. Eren headed to his room. He didn’t recognise anyone from his previous time in the scouting regiment, the only ones he recognised was Erwin, Levi, Hange, Moblit, Mike, and a few others that he never really spoke to and didn’t know their names, he thinks they might have been some new recruits attached to Mike’s squad but he couldn’t really be sure without asking them and currently, Eren preferred to keep himself at a distance to the others just in case they started asking questions that even Eren wouldn’t know the answer to.

His room was bigger than he expected, with a bed up against the wall with a small bedside table beside it. There was also a desk and a small wardrobe. Eren dropped his bag on his bed and the papers onto the desk and flopped into its occupying chair. Eren felt shattered all this traveling and changing was emotionally exhausting. He’s gone from a scared child with no memories discovered outside the walls in the hand of a titan – to a child living with the scouting regiment and then with a mother – to losing that mother and joining the training corps so he could join the scouting regiment – to gain a sense of purpose and friends in the training corps and finally – leaving the training corps after graduating and becoming a fully-fledged member of the scouting regiments who first act was to fill out paperwork. He sighed, he hated paperwork.

**1\. Basic Information**

_Forename:_ Eren

 _Surname:_ Yeager

 _Title (e.g., Mr, Miss, Ms, Mrs):_ Mr

 _Date of Birth:_ September 4th 835

 _Age:_ 15

 _Gender:_ Male

**2\. Contact Information**

_Address:_ Scouting Regiment Headquarters, Wall Rose.

Eren froze, who would he put down as his next of kin, he doubts he could put Levi or Hange down as they were part of the scouting regiment and he couldn’t list three potential, imaginary people that he didn’t know because he wasn’t sure whether his parents and brother were still alive although Eren really doubted it. It would have to be someone who wasn’t active Military but who, Eren, didn’t know anyone outside of the Military who hadn’t been killed during the fall of Wall Maria… unless.

 _Next of Kin:_ Keith Shadis

Trost Training Corps, Trost District

 _Relation:_ Kind of Adoptive Father

Shadis was the only person Eren could really think of that he could use, Shadis wasn’t active Military but an instructor. It was doubtful that unless the walls fall, Shadis won’t be forced onto the frontline.

**3\. Personal Information**

_Marital Status:_ Single

Eren couldn’t help but snort who would want to be in a relationship with him. He and his life were a chaotic mess.

_Previous Military Training:_

Three Years Military Training with Trost Training Corps.

 _Top Ten Rank (if applicable):_ 1st place

“Eren,” Hange shouted, throwing open Eren’s room door open, “So this is where Erwin has hidden you! You’re not that far from Moblit and I! That’s so exciting. Imagine all the late-night conversations we can have. I heard Erwin’s put you on Levi’s squad, I hoped that you would be with me but I suppose I’ll just have to steal you from Levi from time to time, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind!”.

“Hi Hange, is there anything you need?” Eren asked as he shuffled the paperwork into a pile and looked over at the person who crashed through his door.

“I want to introduce you to everyone on my research squad and then we’ll suit you out for your ODM gear. Take anything personal out of your bag and you’ll be prepared clothes wise for tomorrow,” Hange said grabbing Eren’s arms and pulled him from his chair before looping Eren’s arms with Hange as they dragged Eren out of his room and down the corridor to the titan research area.

* * *

He didn’t get to bed until late, Hange had dragged him around the scouting regiment introducing him to everyone they could think of. Well, all except for Levi’s squad before they started talking Eren’s ear off about the different types of titans they wanted to see during the expedition. Eren was sure he would have been trapped there all night had Moblit not came and saved him by dragging Hange to bed. Sleeping in a proper bed for the first time in five years had been an experience, had Levi not come bagging on Eren’s door and unceremoniously dragged Eren out of his covers and dumped him onto the floor, then Eren was very tempted to never leave. The mattress was soft yet firm, the complete opposite to his hard cot back in the training corps’ barracks.

Eren begrudgingly got dressed, darting out of his quarters and to the courtyard where the rest of the scouting regiment was preparing to move out.

“Um… Levi, what are your squad members like?” Eren asked when he finally caught up with the older man, for someone who was short he could really walk fast with those little legs.

“They’re the best of the best. Petra Ral she’s the only female on the squad, she’s kind and caring and an exceptional soldier with a quick reaction time against perceived danger, she is extremely loyal. Petra has the highest assisted titan kills count and works best in a team. Eld Jinn, he’s the second in command of my squad, Eld is very responsible with a strong sense of duty, he’s skillful with his ODM gear if you have any questions or need any help when I’m not around then go to Eld and he’ll help you. Gunther Schultz is the strongest member of the squad, he quite proficient in using the ODM gear and is extremely intelligent, not Erwin’s level but not far behind. Last, there’s Oluo Bozado he’s a very self-confident, outspoken individual, and quite cocky but ignore him, he’s just acting like an idiot. Oluo is good with the ODM gear and very competent at slaying Titans alone. The entire squad are fine-tined with each other and can launch a coordinated strike without speaking,” Levi said as they approach his squad who had already got their horses ready for the expedition.

“Everyone this is Eren Yeager, he’s our new squad member” Levi introduced as his squad turned around to look at their Captain and Eren. Gunther and Eld’s faces remained blank as they studied the recruit before them whilst Oluo scoffed and Petra smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you Eren, I’m Petra, that’s Eld, he’s Gunther and the grumpy one over there is Oluo” Petra introduced the squad, Eren wasn’t what anyone was expecting. When Captain Levi told them they were having a new squad member, they had imagined someone from another regiment, not a recruit.

“I thought recruits weren’t meant to be joining until the end of the week?” Gunther said, and Eld nodded. It was typical practice, give the cadets one last week after graduation to decide which regiment they wanted to join before they were forced into the life of being a soldier. It was practically unheard of for a recruit joining straight out of graduating.

“It’s Erwin’s decision,” Levi said, mounting his horse, “Eren’s proved to be a capable soldier during training,”.

“Welcome to the Special Operational Squad Eren,” Eld said as the others climbed into their horse’s saddles.

“Oi! Brat, just so you know I have the highest titan kill count in this squad, so stay out of my way. Tch” Oluo snapped before trotting after Levi with Gunther and Eld on his tail. Eren frowned, looking over at Petra.

“Does… does he always talk like that?” Eren asked, a little confused. He was talking like he was doing a terrible impression of Levi.

“He imitates Captain Levi because he thinks it makes him look cool,” Petra replied. She had tried countless times to get Oluo to stop, but nothing had changed his stubborn mind, “Come on, let’s catch up with the others. Oh… and Eren just ignore Oluo, he takes… a while to get used to,”.

Eren sighed, his first day with Levi’s squad, and one of them already hated him. Great, simply great.

* * *

The Scouting Regiment arrived in Trost mid-morning, the streets were packed with civilians cheering for them. At one-point, Eren thought he heard someone shout Levi’s name but with how crowded the paths beside them where it could have been anyone. After all, humanity’s strongest had plenty of admirers, not that Eren was jealous or anything. Nope, not one bit.

“Yo! Eren kick those titans’ asses for me baby!” a familiar voice shouted from the crowd. Eren looked to his left to see Ymir, Reiner, Bertholdt, Christa, Sasha, Connie, Marco, and Jean standing there. The person in particular who had shouted was none other than Ymir.

Eren sighed, he hadn’t expected to see his friends… ah who was he kidding of course his friends would come here with the specific intention of embarrassing him, “Ymir”.

“Girlfriend?” Eld asked, but Eren shook his head. He wouldn’t go out with Ymir had they been the last two people left of humanity, plus Eren was fairly sure Christa would have something to say if he tried to steal her girlfriend.

“No, best friend” Eren replied, his eyes not leaving his friend's smiling faces.

“Hey Eren, you find any food outside the walls brings it back for me!” Sasha shouted practically drooling whilst Connie slapped her over the head.

“Be careful out there, Eren” Christa said. She looked as concerned as ever. Whilst bringing down a titan had brought Eren some perks with most of the members of the 104th, it hadn’t with Christa, instead, the goddess in human skin spent all her free time glued to his side with Ymir to make sure he didn’t do anything reckless whenever she wasn’t looking.

“I will, Christa” Eren shouted back, although that didn’t reassure her at all, and her worried expression remained firmly on her face.

“Try not to die out there, you suicidal bastard!” Jean shouted and Marco promptly elbowed him in the ribs.

“Why would you miss my face that much, Jean?” Eren shouted back, enjoying the red hue Jean’s face turned as he spluttered out his unintelligible words.

“THE GATE OPENS IN ONE MINUTE!” Erwin’s shouted pulling Eren’s attention from his friends and it took everything inside him not to gulp, this was it, he was leaving the safety of the walls for the first time since he was found outside them over five years ago.

“Don’t worry Eren, we’ll be with you” Petra said trying to reassure the recruit, but that wasn’t what was worrying Eren. He wasn’t scared of facing the Titans once more. What scared him was what he might find about himself outside those walls.

“FORWARD!”.


	14. Chapter 14

His heart had crawled up from his ribcage and made a permanent residence in his throat, but he forced his horse to move forward, following the rest of the scouting regiment out of the gate and into titan territory. The once tiny village which borders the Trost district now lies abandoned, it only ever used whenever the scouting regiment left the walls, and it forced the Garrisons to kill all the titans surrounding the gate. Eren didn’t want to focus on the dead bodies which lined the streets. He didn’t want to think about the screams as those garrison members sacrificed their lives so all the members of the scouting regiment could safely exit the walls without sustaining any losses. It was hell. Eren didn’t notice it before, he had only been a kid hiding underneath a scouting regiment cloak; he hadn’t seen the deaths; he hadn’t heard the screams.

“Don’t look” Petra said. She looked all to use to this as she pushed her horse to go faster. Eren nodded, although Petra was no longer looking at him. How could he be a soldier in the scouting regiment if he let every death, he witnessed affect him, the mortality rate was high for a reason, he was going to see plenty of people sacrifice their lives for the sake of humanity’s advancement against the titans, hell, even Eren was happy to sacrifice his life for humanity but has that now changed? He felt his hands shaking with fear. How could he be scared, he had seen the titans many times, outside the walls, in Hange’s research lab, during the fall, and during that test, unlike others, the titans didn’t scare him yet now he was in their territory his hands were shaking, his heart was racing, and his breath was ragged? He felt like that nine-year-old boy in the grasp of a titan waiting for someone to save him.

“Spread out into the long-distance scouting formation” Erwin shouted, pulling Eren from his thoughts and he directed his horse after the other members of his squad. Eren couldn’t let fear rule him, he wasn’t that little boy anymore, and he was going to prove his worth in this expedition so, Eld, Gunther, Petra, and Oluo all knew what he was capable of. He didn’t come first in the top ten just by slacking off. He earned that place and whilst it had slightly gone to waste because he wasn’t joining the Military Police, it still showed anyone who knew that he was already a capable soldier. And he would let no one take that away from him, no titan was going to take that away from him. He still had many unanswered questions about his life, and he refused to die until he found out what had happened to him.

“Oi Eren, as the special operation squad we will clear and protect the village from titan attacks whilst the others set up the equipment, got it,” Levi said briefly, glancing back at their newest member.

“It means we’re doing all the hard work whilst the others move some boxes, I’m aiming to round my solo kills to fifty!” Oluo said pulling his horse up beside Eren and leaned into the other boy’s personal space.

“Oluo don’t do anything reckless. Being that risky would just turn you into titan fowler faster,” Levi said. If anything, Levi planned to take on most of the titans, they found to protect his squad. Even though he knew how capable each member was, it didn’t mean that the strongest couldn’t fall. He couldn’t risk what happened to Isabel and Furlan to happen to his squad, he couldn’t risk Eren. Not whilst he was on his first expedition.

“Understood Captain,” Eren said completely ignoring his fellow squad member instead he urged his horse forward and stopped just behind Levi. It felt weird, referring to Levi as Captain, Levi had always been Levi. Nothing more and nothing less. Captain left weird on his tongue like he was referring to a completely different person. Eren internally sighed. This was going to take a while until he got used to that.

* * *

Eren saw the red flare before he saw the titans. The village was already swarming with titans as they tried to grab the soldiers from the air as they tried to take the titans down. Eren pushed his horse to move faster. Levi shot off his horse taking down the seven nearest titans in what looked like a single swoop whilst the rest of the special operation squad split up taking down the other titans. Eren sped past Petra, propelling himself towards the nape of the nearest titan, cutting it in one clean slice before moving towards the next one, killing that with the same ease.

“Just you watch” Eren heard, he came to a stop on a rooftop and looked around for the owner of the voice, it didn’t sound like someone from his squad, so it had to be another member of the scouting regiment, “Humanity is… going to destroy you all! The last one standing… will be us!”.

Eren frowned, the voice sounded close by but no matter how hard he looked he couldn’t see who it belongs to. The only thing that was anywhere near him was a ten-meter titan which had it back to him… oh. Eren jumped off the roof, shooting his cables into the nape of the titan before bringing his blades up and slicing the nape. The soldier fell out of the titan’s mouth and plummeted to the floor, but Eld who had been watching from afar shot over and caught the falling soldier before carefully placing him on the nearby rooftop out of the way of the titans.

“You’re safe now,” Eren said, dropping to his knees beside the injured soldier. From what Eren could see, the wounds weren’t that bad, probably because the titan seemed to be lightly mouthing the soldier than biting him.

“You were extremely brave Eren, most people freeze when they see their first titan,” Petra said dropping beside Eren and started assessing the soldier’s injuries.

“It is because it’s not the brat first titan kill,” Levi said, “Not bad brat seems like you still remember your stuff, stay with Petra and provide her and the injured soldier protection whilst the rest of us take down the remaining titans,”.

Eren watched as Eld and Gunther took off after Levi although Oluo stayed with them, “What the captain means is your competent enough but still nowhere near my level”.

“Stop imitating Captain Levi Oluo and then maybe Eren will listen to you! Now off with you,” Petra said shooting Oluo a look, “Eren apply pressure to his wound will you,”.

Oluo tched but left, taking down a titan almost immediately whilst Eren put his hand over the wound and applied some pressure whilst his eyes continued to survey the area to make sure that no titans got close to them.

“What did the Captain mean? That you’ve already killed a titan? I don’t want to sound rude, but you don’t look like you’ve been with the Garrisons or the Scouting Regiment long,” Petra asked when they were alone.

“No, I’ve only just graduated,” Eren started. He wasn’t sure how he could explain what had happened during the test to Petra. They could talk about it, it wasn’t something they could really hide, civilians had seen the Scouting Regiment transporting two titans plus everyone member of the 104th who took a part of the test, they couldn’t really keep those people from talking, it wasn’t like when they brought Eren inside the walls and only a select number of people knew about it, “There was this test after our first year of training, the scouting regiment – Commander Erwin, Captain Levi, and Squad Leader Hange brought two titans to my training corps and our instructor Shadis decided that we needed experience being around titans and learning how they move and act. I think it was to help prevent soldiers from freezing up whenever they saw a titan in future battles. Anyway, it was about half an hour into the test when my squad heard a scream and when we came to the place the scream emanated from, we found that the metal plates which had been previously bound to the titan’s arms and mouth were gone and it had captured Hange after they saved Connie. I didn’t really think I just reacted, and I was lucky enough to catch the titan off guard before it killed Hange, I cut its arm off and Captain Levi ordered me to kill the titan. I found out after they had stopped the test, the titan was going for Bertholdt and according to Captain Levi, he wouldn’t have made it over to the titan to kill it before it would have killed my friend,”.

Petra stared at Eren, a look of shock on her face. She had heard about the disaster of that test. Hell, everyone had heard about that test. The government had been so close to shutting the scouting regiment down because of the risk it had been to the cadets, but Commander Erwin had convinced General Zackly that the test had been designed with protecting the cadets in mind and that they believed it would benefit future soldiers to experience what the titans were like especially considering they weren’t sure whether the Colossal or Armoured Titan would appear and breach Wall Rose forcing the cadets to fight. With General Zackly siding with the Scouting Regiment, the government had no choice but to dismiss the charges to the scouting regiment, “I had no idea that it was a cadet who brought down the titan, I can see why Commander Erwin wanted you for the Scouting Regiment. I’m surprised you weren’t in the top ten after pulling off that”.

“No, I was in the top ten. First place but before joining the Military I had already decided that I wanted to join the Scouting Regiment so being in the top ten didn’t change my mind,” Eren replied.

“Then why did you choose to join the scouting regiment, I mean many people would love to join the Military Police,” Petra asked, she herself had just missed out of the top ten during her own training and even she had decided that if she were to be in the top ten that she would have gone and joined the Military Police and move to the interior with her father.

“I have my reasons, some that are a little too personal to tell you but out of all the three regiments I would rather join the scouting regiment and die then stayed trapped like cattle behind those walls because as much as people don’t want to admit it, that’s all we are. The Colossal and Armoured titans have already appeared once before and broke Wall Maria like the wall were made of out feathers, what’s saying that they won’t appear again and destroy Wall Rose or Wall Sina,” Eren said, it was the same thing he told Connie and the other 104th members whenever they asked him why he was so set on joining the Scouting Regiment. It was the only true thing he could tell them without revealing his missing memories and his insecurities, “We need to be prepared and we can’t do that if we believe too much in the walls and that they will protect us because then we’re just lying to ourselves. We need to make the first move before they have the chance to strike again. It’s a cause I would proudly die for,”.

“Wow, that’s a rousing speech,” Petra said reaching out and putting her left hand on Eren’s arm, “Eren. Take some advice from someone who has been with the scouting regiment for a while, sometimes we can’t do everything we set out to do but never, ever giving up fighting for what you believe. If you think you can take down the Colossal or Armoured Titans, then we’re doing it, together. You are part of our squad now and we look after our own,”.

* * *

The mission had mostly been a success, no titans had appeared after the initial bunch and the other squad of the scouting regiment had set to work, carting the ODM gear supplies from the wagons and hiding them in various locations around the village whilst Petra and Eren transferred the injured soldier to the wagon whilst the others stood guard watching and waiting for any other titans to appear.

“We’ll head to the next village and repeat the process once this squad has finished up,” Levi said as the soldiers unloaded the last crates from the supply wagon and climbed down to the basement of the last house. However, luck wasn’t on their side because just as Levi finished his sentence erupting out of the forest were two groups of titans. From the left, there were five titans and on the right were seven, all ranging from different heights. The smallest being three-meter and the tallest being fourteen-meter.

“Eld, Oluo, take out the titans on the left, Gunther and I will go for the ones on the right. Petra, Eren stay with and protect the injured soldier and the other squad” Levi ordered before shooting his ODM cables out and started moving towards the larger group of titans with Gunther on his tail. Eren watched with bated breath. He wanted to go with them, he wanted to fight, but he couldn’t risk leaving Petra, the injured soldiers, and the other busy squad alone just in case another group of titans appear.

“Oluo behind you” Eld shouted but it was too late, the titan snatched Oluo from the air. Eren wasn’t sure who screamed, but if he thought back at it, later on, he would discover that it had been him as he flew off the rooftop, ignoring the shouting from Petra, his blades already drawn. The titan differed from the others he had seen, its torso was bulkier whilst its arms and legs kind of reminded Eren of the sticks he used to collect back in Shiganshina. It had long black hair, a full black beard, and black chest hair.

The titan whilst holding Oluo reached out with its free hand to grab Eren, Eren only smirked as he cut off its fingers then cutting its other arm off at the elbow. Dropping slightly, Eren catapulted himself around to the back of the titan’s legs, chopping at the knees, forcing it onto the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, Eren saw Levi flying at full throttle towards him but like he was going to let Levi take his kill.

Eren shot his ODM cables and propelled himself towards the titan’s nape before it had time to regenerate its arm or fingers. He screamed as his blades cut through the titan’s nape, deep enough to sever its regenerative capabilities, instantly killing the titan. Then it happened to fast one second Eren landed on the roof beside his kill then next he fell to his knees clasping his head as he was forced into another memory. A memory he didn’t remember living.

_“Daddy, where is Zekey going?” a young Eren asked as he toddled over to his father, who was currently looking over some blueprints of some Military Building._

_“Eren you remember how mummy and I are working to free us Eldians from the hurt we’ve lived through,” Grisha asked as he leaned down and picked his youngest child up and placed him on his lap. Eren nodded, “Well your big brother Zeke is helping, the place he goes to gives him access to information which will help us,”._

_“Grandma and Grandpa always say we should be grateful for the lives we’re living,” Eren said, Grandma liked going into long rants about how they should be happy with what they had access to after everything the Eldians had done in the past. Whatever that meant._

_“Grandma and Grandpa are just scared, I’m sure when we’ve finally freed ourselves that they will understand that our lives are better without being controlled,” Grisha said, the resistances plans were finally entering the final stages, all they needed was for Zeke to inherit one of the nine and then they could use him to attack the government and military._

The memory then shifted. This time Eren was walking hand in hand with his brother as they headed home, but something was wrong, Eren could feel it. Instead of just being with his brother, there were men with them, the same men Eren had been told to be careful around, but if they were here with Zeke, then everything must be alright.

_“You’re doing the only good you Eldians can do for the motherland,” one soldier said, and Zeke nodded pulling his brother closer, he knew what he was doing goes completely against everything his parents had taught him, but he couldn’t risk it, he couldn’t risk his brother’s life. So, he kept moving, moving towards his house where the meeting was taking place._

_Eren watched as his brother opened their front door. He watched as all the eyes of the occupants turned to look at them, their faces morphing into a look of horror as Zeke pointed at their parents._

_“They are the traitors,” Zeke said ignoring the look on his parents' faces, ignoring the guilt deep in his stomach, he was doing the right thing, it would protect his brother and his grandparents, “They oversee and plan key events in the resistance”._

_Soldiers swarmed into their house, attacking the Eldians inside as he and Eren stayed outside. They kept quiet as their parents were forcefully dragged from the house and down the streets, the soldiers still punching them whenever they tried to escape. Zeke tried to shield his brother’s view, but still, Eren saw the treatment his parents suffered._

_“Where are Mummy and Daddy going?” Eren asked as he trudged behind Zeke. This time they were walking towards Grandma and Grandpa’s house._

_“They’re traitors Eren, they will be punished according to our motherland’s law and they will probably be sent to Paradis Island,” Zeke said and Eren gasped._

_“But Zeke, that’s where the devils live!” Eren shouted, and Zeke was quick to shh his brother, putting a hand over his brother’s mouth._

_“And that’s where our parents belong, they’re traitors Eren. They’re devils,” Zeke said._

_“I’m not a devil, am I?” Eren asked, his eyes widening and filling up with tears._

_“No, you are the furthest thing from a devil my little hunter,” Zeke said kneeling down to his brother’s height and wrapping his arms around the small frame of his brother, “I promise that I will protect you from the horrors of this world,”._

_“I trust you, Zekey,” Eren said, crying into his brother’s arms._

* * *

Levi shouldn’t have left him; he should have kept Eren by his side. One moment, Levi saw Eren taking down the titan which had gotten the upper hand over Oluo and the next Eren was on the roof clutching his head and crying out in pain. Quickly scanning Eren from injuries to his head showed that he hadn’t received any physical injuries, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be internal.

“Eren what’s wrong,” Levi said kneeling down in front of Eren whilst the rest of his squad stayed back monitoring the rest of the area for titans.

“My father” Eren spat out and Levi frowned from what he could remember the only thing Eren remembered about his father had been his name unless somehow killing that titan had triggered a memory, “I helped kill my father, I showed those men where my parents lived, and I watched and did nothing as they were dragged away”.

“Eren” Levi started lowering his voice so there was no chance the others would overhear; they didn’t know about Eren’s memory problem and they couldn’t find out about it, it would create too many questions that they couldn’t answer. People would talk, the wrong people would find out and it could lead to a massive incident which would reveal that Eren as a child had been found outside the walls and not even Erwin could talk his way out of it, “Whatever happened in your past, whatever you can’t remember, you can’t judge yourself on a person you don’t fully remember being. Remember how we talked about living in the underground, for all you know they could have forced you to show them where your parents were. You might have not had the choice, so you can’t decide that you were at fault until you remember everything. Do you understand?”.

Eren nodded, but he couldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t forced to show those men to his family. He along with his brother Zeke did it willingly. Not that Eren voiced that concern.

“Captain Levi, Commander Erwin wants to see you,” a soldier said appearing on horseback and stopped beside Levi after landing on the rooftop, “He says it is important”.

“Tch” Levi said, as much as he didn’t want to leave Eren in such a state, if Erwin found something important then it wasn’t like he could just ignore it not matter how much Levi wanted to, “Petra look after Eren. Eld you’re in charge until I returned”.

Levi gave Eren another glance before calling for his horse to him and took off after the messenger, Erwin was in the next village over helping Mike’s squad take down titans whilst the supply squad carefully carried out their task.

“Oi Erwin, what do you want?” Levi asked using his ODM gear to get onto the roof and stopped beside him.

“Mike found this in one house. There were signs of someone camping there not too long ago. Now normally a letter wouldn’t concern me, it’s a few years old at least so anyone would consider they wrote it before the fall. However, the contents are a little worrying, to say the least,” Erwin said pulling out a piece of paper from his scouting regiment jacket pocket and handed it over to Levi, “I don’t think this is fake, it can’t be the contents enough is too detailed for a prank and I doubt it was written before the fall because well… just read it and you’ll find out,”.

Levi frowned but nevertheless took the letter from Erwin and started to read it.

_Dear General Magath,_

_The warriors and I have successfully infiltrated the devils’ military and we will continue our search for the founder. In a previous letter, I mentioned that the government and royal family are fake, a puppet for the real royal family who has seemed to make it their mission to remain hidden. We expect that the higher ups of the Military are responsible for this and I hope when we spilt and join the three military factions, we can uncover who in either the Military Police, Garrisons, or Scouting Regiment is in cahoots with the royal family and the founder._

_During our days off we will still search but we expect nothing to come from it, we still have over two years left of this pathetic excuse for military training before we can properly discover where the founder is hiding, we expect it to be in Wall Sina because that is where the false royal family is located, and it is doubtful the founder would risk the titans getting hold of them. Armoured believes that we might need to force the founder out by destroying Wall Rose and make Wall Sina these devils last barrier, Female and Jaws suggest we should do it at the end of the training._

_The altered memories have also removed these devil’s understanding of the enemies that lurk outside the walls. They do not know what the titans truly are or do they know what lives inside their walls. They would not handle a full-scale attack from all the warriors or our powerful military. Their only chance to fight is the ODM gear they used to fight titans, their other weapons are useless and sorely outdated, their technology is backward, and they would not stand to survive an attack from Marley’s powerful military._

_I will update you on any plan changes or breakthroughs whenever they occur._

_Your faithful warrior_

_Gemini_

“What the fuck” Levi said as he read the letter again. He couldn’t believe what he was reading. This whole letter sounded like a prank, but just like Erwin had said, it was too detailed to be one. This Gemini person seems to outright say that their royal family is fake, that there were more to the titans than just being man-eating beasts and something to do with altered memories. Was there something going on with the military higher ups, like a conspiracy that was keeping the rest of humanity in the dark?

“I know, it’s a lot to take in and if this letter is real, then there is something else at play, then just two titans destroying the walls and this letter isn’t the only problem. We’re pulling out,” Erwin said, taking the letter back from Levi and tucked it away in his pocket for later.

“What do you mean we’re pulling out” Levi argued. They couldn’t just abandon the mission, they were nowhere near putting the much-needed supplies in place. This mission could help reduce the number of soldiers dying on missions, broken equipment, or running out of gas was just as much of a reason that soldiers died as was titans grabbing and eating them.

“A swarm of Titans has begun moving northward, towards the city. This is just like five years ago. Something is happening in town,” Erwin said, his eyes glancing in the same direction.

“Oi Eyebrows are you suggesting…” Levi trailed off.

“If this letter is right and we have enemies hidden inside our military, then it’s possible that during our expedition, they’ve breached the wall,”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! So as promised I've updated twice this week wooh! I know the expedition was quite short but there wasn't much I wanted to include in the actual expedition except for what I've put in this chapter, so next up is the Battle Of Trost! I wonder what's going to happen! Anywho, all comments are extremely appreciated and I hope to see you in the next chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

_~1 week earlier~_

_“You wanted to see me?” Bertholdt asked, walking into the clearing. Earlier that day Gemini had sent him a coded message during lunch asking him to meet with him later. The warriors had developed a unique signal for everyone’s name, so if they needed to use it during the battle they could communicate with each other without their enemy overhearing any secret information or location for a warrior who had yet to transform (plus only the Jaws, Beast and Cartman titan could talk in their titan forms so the others had to work around that issue). Bertholdt’s signal is the sharp tug of the neck of their top or jacket, Annie’s signal is wiggle of the nose, Reiner’s is to roll only one sleeve up, Gemini’s signal is lifting one finger and rotating it slowly around the ear and Jaws is covering the right eye with their right arm. These signals had been helpful whilst being around the devils, as they couldn’t risk blowing their identity before they had the chance to find the Founding Titan._

_“I want to discuss the mission with you,” Gemini said, “Breaching Wall Rose will mostly rely on you, I just want to make sure you’re prepared to go through with it”._

_“I’m fine,” Bertholdt said and Gemini’s raised his eyebrow._

_“Are you sure… because Bert, I’ve known you longer than anyone, we grew up next door to each other. I know you. You’re happy with people telling you what to do, but your well-being is just as important as the mission, if not more so. So, I’ll ask again, but I’m asking as a friend and not as the Vice-Captain. Are you prepared to breach Wall Rose because if you’re not then we can use another approach to find the Founder, I won’t force you to do anything you’re not prepared to do?” Gemini said. Bertholdt had been there for Gemini when everyone started calling him a devil because of what his parents had done, Bertholdt had seen the good in him and helped Gemini see that too. They enrolled in the Warrior Programme together to prove that they were better than those Eldians on Paradis, that he was not like his parents._

_“I honestly just want to go home. I want to see my father again, but that won’t happen until we’ve found the founding titan and brought that back to Marley. These Eldians aren’t the devils they have led us to believe, but I’ll do whatever it takes so we can return home” Bertholdt said and Gemini nodded, he had expected that from Bertholdt. Although people might believe that Bertholdt’s is weak-willed, that was actually wrong. Bertholdt was the strongest out of all the warriors, after all, Marley wouldn’t give the Colossal Titan to anyone. Bertholdt was their rock that any of the warriors could lean on._

_“If you say so, we’ll all be relying on you then Bertie,” Gemini said as he put a hand on Bertholdt’s shoulder giving it a small squeeze before walking off, he was sure that their ‘friends’ would wonder where they’ve disappeared to._

So now, a week later, Bertholdt jumped off Wall Rose. His face covered by the stolen green garrison cloak with his ODM gear hidden underneath it. Annie, Reiner, and Jaws were distracting the other cadets above the wall so no one would see Bertholdt jump. Cutting his hand as he fell. Yellow lightning sparked around his body before he felt an explosion of heat, then his body went up and up until it was encased in his titan’s nape.

He felt the eyes of his fellow cadets burning into him, the look of horror on their faces. He let out of steam of hot air throwing everyone off the wall as he lifted his leg bringing it down hard against the gate. He watched as part of the wall went flying, slamming into the houses nearby and destroying the ground barricades the devils had put in place as a counterattack. Next, he destroyed the wall canons, he couldn’t waste any more time, Bertholdt could only be thankful that they chose to attack when the Scouting Regiment had left the walls with Eren. Eren was definitely a risk to their mission. If he even by chance managed to gain the upper hand, then it could risk the titan shifters being revealed or one of them being killed. But for now, the shifters didn’t have to worry about that. Eren was long gone and the other threat Mikasa hadn’t been on the wall when he shifted.

Bertholdt’s titan let out another puff of steam before he let it disintegrate, using the ODM gear to climb back onto the wall. Waiting for him was Reiner, who quickly ushered him from the wall and away from their cadets, both trying to keep Bertholdt’s titan marks hidden from view whilst the Garrisons took control and ordered all the cadets to prepare themselves. The next fight had begun.

* * *

"Shit, why couldn't this have waited two more days than we would have been safe in the interior" Jean whined to no one in particular. After the Colossal Titan appeared and breached the wall, everyone was rushing about refilling their gas cylinders and replaces their dull blades. They were on a clock to get ready and descend into the battle whilst the Garrison's elites protected the civilians and helped with the evacuation.

"Don't worry Jean, we've trained for this" Marco said, taking Jean's hand in his and giving it a light squeeze, "We just have to last until the evacuation has finished".

"I know, it's just… we've lost our best fighters, not only the scouting regiment but Eren. If he hadn't joined early, then I would have felt safe that we had some experience on our side. Eren took down that titan, I bet if that suicidal bastard was here, he would give some inspirational speech" Jean said clinging to Marco's hand as if it was his lifeline.

"I know, I would feel better if we had Eren, but we can't focus on what we can't have," Marco said, "Jean… I should say this before… just in case I… Jean the thing is…".

"Everyone, prepare to move out" a garrison soldier interrupted, and Marco sighed. He let go of Jean's hand and stood up.

"We should probably go to our respective squads… be careful out there," Marco said, turning his back to Jean to walk away.

"Marco" Jean spoke up, he should tell him. Tell Marco how he feels, he should kiss Marco and pour all his hopes and feelings into that kiss. This could be his last chance. He might never see Marco again, he should, he has to tell him. Marco turned around to look at him, tilting his head to the side. And the words died in Jean's throat instead he spluttered out, "D-don't die".

Marco smiled and nodded his head, "You too".

And with that he walked off, taking Jean's chance along with him.

* * *

Armin didn’t even want to think about heading into the war zone. Trost would be swarming with titans now, it would be like Shiganshina all over again. The Colossal Titan had appeared out of nowhere and breached the wall. For all they knew, the Armoured Titan was on its way to destroy the inner gate like it had done last time. The only reassuring thing was the squad they had assigned him to had Mikasa in it with Mina, Thomas, Nac and Mylius. Although, Armin believed that Mikasa should help with the evacuation because that’s where all the other elite and skilled fighters were. Except for those who had been assigned to the Vanguard. However, whilst Armin was filling his gas cylinders he had overheard one member of the Elite squad discussing whether they should bring Mikasa into their squad for the evacuation but their leader refused and brought up what Mikasa had done to Eren during their training as the reason why. It honestly surprised Armin that something from two years ago was still affecting Mikasa to this day and that the Garrison heard about what she had done.

“Armin, don’t worry I’ll protect you,” Mikasa said. Armin couldn’t understand how she could be like that, so calm in the face of danger, but she had always been like that. After Armin saved her from those kidnappers (well, Armin says saved it had more been dragged her away when no one was looking). Whilst there he was shaking uncontrollably. Even when the evacuation has finished, it’s doubtful that they could patch up an eight-meter hole let alone find out how to move that rock by the front grate the garrisons had desperately been trying to dig up ever since the Fall of Wall Maria. So, the only logical option was to abandon the town but then how does the scouting regiment get back in. They have no idea what’s happening here and considering their expeditions are usually meant to last at least a week sometimes longer unless their numbers get decimated to an extremely low level which would force them to return earlier. Then there might not be a wall to return to if the Armoured Titan appears again and breaches Wall Rose.

“Armin!” Mikasa said kneeling down in front of her friend when she noticed Armin’s breathing slowly becoming more ragged, “Calm down… whatever you’re worried about you to need to forget it. Things are different now. I won’t let the Titans come after you”.

“I’m sorry,” Armin said as he took in a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, “I’m all right”.

With that Armin finished refuelling his gas and with the rest of his squad, they descended into the madness. Mikasa took charge as they travelled from the headquarters and to the spot someone designated their squad. For a while, nothing happened. They watched as the titans slowly advanced through the city; the bell had yet to ring to signal the end of the evacuation and as more time passed, the nerves slowly piled up. Had something happened at the evacuation site, surely everyone would have gotten out by now? Just as Armin turned to the others in his squad to air his concerns, a garrison soldier dropped onto the rooftop beside them.

“Support the vanguard!” the soldier ordered before flying off. Armin’s heart froze. He was going into battle, he was going to fight titans. Unlike Eren, who was more than happy to fight titans again, Armin wasn’t as prepared. During the Shiganshina evacuation, he had run to the boats to save himself whilst Mikasa and Eren went to save Carla. It was something that had eaten away at him ever since, whilst his family had run towards danger he ran away filled with nothing more than fear but no more, he would fight in Carla’s name, he would help Eren and the Scouting Regiment rid the world of titan in Carla’s name. But that didn’t stop his hands from shaking as he followed Mikasa.

“Look at all those titans,” Mina said. Armin gulped; he wasn’t expecting so many titans already this far in the city.

“The vanguard’s been eliminated,” Thomas said. If most of the veteran soldiers have died, then what hope do they have. Mikasa might survive, but the rest of them don’t stand a chance.

“Look out an abnormal” Mikasa shouted and Armin threw himself onto the nearest rooftop, barely missing the abnormal as it lunged at them. Armin’s heart thumped erratically against his ribcage as they stared at the titan clinging to the tower, its head moving ever so slightly to reveal that it had caught Thomas in its mouth.

“Oh no it got Thomas” Mylius shouted but they couldn’t do anything as the titan tipped its head back and swallowed Thomas whole.

“We should avenge Thomas,” Nac said, readying himself to take off, blades gripped tight in his hands.

“No,” Mikasa said grabbing Nac’s arm stopping him from flying off, “It’s too big a risk, for all we know there are titans ready to pounce, we need to be careful”.

“But it killed Thomas,” Mina said, pointing at the titan as it climbed down the tower and walked off ignoring the small group of humans nearby instead focusing on something further away.

“No Mikasa’s right,” Armin said, he hates to admit it, but they didn’t have the choice to go after that titan, not in their current emotional state, “Charging into battle in the heat of the moment will just end up with the rest of us dying. We need to be careful to ensure that we don’t lose anyone else. We won’t be avenging Thomas if we die trying to kill the titan who killed him”.

“Then what should we do?” Mina asked, looking at Armin for some guidance.

“We should find the others and tell them that the titan has decimated the vanguard,” Armin said. The others had to know, so they were prepared to take on the current influx of titans whilst they waited for the evacuation bell to sound, “But we need to keep our eyes peeled for any more abnormals or smaller titans which may be hidden behind the buildings”.

“Let’s go,” Mikasa said before taking off.

* * *

“Mikasa! Armin! You’re still alive,” Connie said, relieved as Armin landed on the rooftop with the rest of his squad. They had been careful as they travelled around Trost searching for their fellow cadets. Mikasa and Mina had looked out for abnormals whilst the rest searched for any titans in the streets. It had taken longer than they would have liked and used up way more gas than planned, but it kept them all safe and whenever they found a titan, Mikasa would quickly dispose of it.

“So are you. Have you had any casualties?” Mina asked and Reiner shook his head, “That’s good, we lost Thomas to an abnormal”.

“Shit, what the situation with the vanguard? I thought they were keeping the titans back?” Reiner said wrapping an arm around Bertholdt and pulled his boyfriend up against his chest.

“They’ve been annihilated, and the titans have breached further into the city and we still haven’t heard the evacuation bell” Armin explained.

“That’s not the only thing,” Jean said walking over with Marco, Connie and Sasha, “HQ is crawling with Titans and the supply team have barricaded themselves inside. And my squad is nearly out of gas”.

“We practically used most of our gas up just trying to get here so our only options are to charge towards the titan infested HQ or stay here and wait for the titans to pick us off one by one but that’s suicide either way,” Mina said, tears filling her eyes. If she was going to die, she would have rather done it trying to avenge Thomas than just waiting around until death claimed her.

“Damn it! Where that suicidal bastard when you need them! How come the Scouting Regiment haven’t noticed something going on, they couldn’t have gotten that far from the walls before it was breached” Jean swore. 

“We don’t know what their expedition was about, for all we know they could be halfway to the Shiganshina district or on their way back,” Armin said, the information of the Scouting Regiments Expeditions were kept top secret so only members would know what route they were taking, “Anyway, we can’t wait around hoping that the scouting regiment will reappear. We need to do something?”.

“Well, unless you have a brilliant idea on how all of us are going to get into HQ without the titans eating us, then I’m all ears,” Jean said, and Marco elbowed him. Armin didn’t blame Jean for getting defensive, they were all scared and even with Armin’s brain, he couldn’t see a safe way getting into HQ without sacrificing half the remaining cadets to give the others a feasible shot of making it inside.

“I can do it!” Mikasa said suddenly, Armin looked at Mikasa. Had she gone mad? After everything, has she finally lost the plot? Because there was no way that Mikasa could get inside HQ alone and there was no way to get inside HQ without killing half their friends, “I’m strong. Real strong. None of you come close, you hear me. Know this, I have the power to slay all the Titans that block our path! Even if I have to do it alone”.

Everyone looked at Mikasa as if she had suddenly grown another head as she pulled out her blades and prepared to fight as she turns her back on the others as she did this, “As far as I’m concerned, I’m surrounded by a bunch of unskilled, cowardly worms. You disappoint me. You can just sit here and twiddle your thumbs and watch how it’s done!”.

“Wait, Mikasa!” Armin shouted, reaching out for his friend, but he didn’t take a step forward, “Are you out of your mind? That’s crazy”.

“There’s no way you can hope to beat them!” another cadet shouted.

“If I can’t beat them, then I die. But, if I win, I live. And the only way to win is to fight?” Mikasa said, and it felt like a slap to the face. It was the same, the same thing Eren said when he first told Armin and Mikasa that he wanted to join the Scouting Regiment.

_“Hey Armin, Mikasa” Eren started as he stared into the river, “I want to join the Scouting Regiment when I’m older, so I can fight titans and free us from these walls”._

_“But Eren, that suicide. For hundreds of years, they’ve fought and died at the hands of the titans. We can’t beat them” Armin said. Titans had claimed thousands of peoples’ lives before and after they built the walls, the scouting regiment had countless of expeditions which showed that no matter how many times they left the walls, the titans would always get the upper hand and eventually it would annihilate humanity._

_“Because I can. If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don’t fight, you can’t win” Eren said standing up and looking at his friends, “and as you told us, Armin, I want to see and understand the world outside. I don’t want to die inside these walls without knowing what out there! And the only way we can find out is by joining the scouting regiment and ridding the titans from our world”._

“Not the most inspirational thing I’ve heard Mika, but I’m with you. I’ll help take down the titans. For Carla and for Thomas” Armin said, he couldn’t let Mikasa go after those titans with no help. He might not be strong, but they were stronger together.

“Ah, what the hell!” Ymir said, throwing her arms up in the air before standing to her feet and walking over to Mikasa and Armin, “Eren would never let me live it down if I didn’t fight”.

Armin nodded at Ymir as he heard a few other cadets climbed to their feet, but Armin didn’t look back as he jumped off the roof, following Mikasa as she took titan after titan down. Although he heard Jean as he shouted, “Hey! Don’t just stand there! We weren’t taught to let our comrades fight alone! ‘Less you are a coward, in which case stay out of my way!”.

A rally cry filled the air as Armin heard the thundering footsteps on the rooftops as the cadets took off flying toward HQ, avoid the titans wherever they could as they follow the same path Mikasa was taking as she took down titan after titan.

“It’s no use. We’re not getting anywhere near headquarters” Jean shouted and Armin agreed. No matter how many titans Mikasa tried to take out surrounding titans. They still had to deal with the titans on HQ and they didn’t know how much gas everyone had left, for all Armin knew his gas could run out at any second and it didn’t matter how skilled everyone was, the second they lose mobility, there are as good as dead.

Then the screaming started. Armin saw through the corner of his eye as a cadet after cadet fell, their gas running out, and they fell into the titan’s grasp. He heard as others fought to save their friends, but their efforts are in vain as the titans grab them too. More titans move away from HQ, focusing on the cadets who had fallen to the ground or fighting them from another titan’s grasp.

“Let’s go! Make a break for HQ while they’re distracted. We can do this!” Jean shouted as everyone pushed hard, using up a little more gas. Armin brought his arms up to cover his face as he crashed feet first into the window of HQ, smashing it to pieces at the sudden weight, and he fell onto the cold hard ground. Mikasa followed, then Jean, Marco, Connie, Sasha, Ymir, Christa, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Mina, Nac and Mylius. They had made it. Yet, they could still hear the screams of the cadets dying outside, their deaths used as a way for the others to survive.

“Wait! Hold on a sec. You guys are with the supply team?” Jean said. Armin looked around, noticing a small group of people hiding underneath the tables.

“Yeah,” The one soldier said nodded his head and Armin watched as Marco quickly lunged forward, grabbing hold of Jean and dragging him back to prevent him from pouncing on the poor soldier.

“You cowards! You left us out there on our own! People are dead ‘cause you didn’t have the guts to do your job!” Jean said, fighting against Marco, trying to free himself so he could attack these bastard soldiers.

“Uh Reiner” Armin heard Bertholdt say, and Armin turned around. His heart dropped as standing outside looking in with two identical grins on their faces were the titans, by breaking the glass they had trapped themselves. They couldn’t go to the supply room because it was overrun with smaller titans from what Armin had heard, so they couldn’t resupply their gas.

“Mikasa, can you…” Mina started before trailing off as Mikasa shook her head.

“I used the rest of my gas trying to get here,” She said, and the slow reality of their situation was sinking it. They couldn’t escape, they were all good as dead. They were sitting ducks waiting for the titans to reach in and grab them one by one. Armin reached out, grabbing Mikasa’s hand. If he was to die here, then at least he was surrounded by his friends. He had tried, he had tried so hard to fight and to not to give up. His only regret is that he would never see Eren again. Armin closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen.

“What the-” Jean shouted, and Armin threw his eyes open. He watched as the two titans vanished from view, leaving only a trail of smoke behind them. Someone had killed them but who, everyone else, must be dead or stranded on some rooftop waiting for the end.

“I leave you for a few hours and look what mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” A familiar voice said as a brown-haired boy dropped into HQ grinning like an idiot.

“Eren!”. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone has had an amazing Christmas (or holiday if you don't or celebrate something else)! I had hoped to post this yesterday but it just didn't work out! Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

~One Hour Prior~

Eren felt fed up with waiting. The mission had been a success for this village. There hadn’t been any more incidents and no more titans had stumbled across them. They were only waiting for Levi to come back from wherever Erwin was so they could move onto the next village. Waiting around like this wasn’t helping, that memory felt like it had burnt itself into his mind forcing him to relive it every time he stopped moving, there was only so many times he could check the supply squad’s work or check over the injured soldier before he was told to sit down with Petra and keep watch. That meant he was alone with his thoughts, alone with that memory. He didn’t understand, why would killing that titan suddenly unlocks another memory. The titan didn’t even look like his father. But now, on the subject of his father… Eren sighed. Did he really kill him, as he and his brother Zeke responsible for the death of both their mother and father, if that was true then… was he a bad person. Should he stop chasing after his lost memories and accept that what happened to him should never be revealed. That the person he might find out he is - a monster.

“Captain Levi, you’ve returned,” Eld said, pulling Eren out of his thoughts as he stood up and watched as Levi got closer, “Are we moving on to the next village?”.

“Change of plans, we returning to Trost. Erwin spotted an abnormally large crowd of titans heading in that direction. The wall might have been breached,” Levi explained, “We need to refuel and… wait, Eren,”.

Eren stopped listening the moment he heard that the wall might have been breached. Then that means his friends were fighting the titans without his help. Ymir, Reiner, Christa and Bertholdt, were they even still alive? Eren knew the power the titans had; he knew how strong they were. Did his friends even stand a chance against them? Both Marco and Jean wanted to join the Military Police, they weren’t prepared to fight actual titans. If they died before… no, Eren shook his head. He couldn’t focus on that, he needed to get to the walls. He needs to find out whether the walls had been breached then and only then could Eren play into the possibility that his friends were fighting against the gigantic monsters that lived outside. His friends wouldn’t die easily, they couldn’t.

He didn’t listen to the shouting from Levi and Petra as they tried to call him back. How could he wait when Trost might need them, he’d rather be punished later and discover the wall is intact than wait for the rest of scouting regiment to prepare themselves and let more soldiers die? He couldn’t let his friends die, so he pushed his horse harder and faster, darting around any titans who got in his way. Eren refused to stop, he couldn’t stop. He needed to reach the wall.

And when he finally did, his heart stopped. There was the gate used to be was a massive hole. Erwin had been right; the wall had been breached.

The second he was in range, Eren used his ODM gear to climb over the wall. He couldn’t risk entering through the hole just in case there were titans loitering around the entrance, ready to grab him the second he passed through. Trost looked broken, no longer the happy and calm city he passed through barely three hours ago when they left the walls. Smoke blowing off destroyed houses and he could see titans ranging from different sizes all desperately scurrying through the abandoned streets looking for any alive humans that they could chomp on, then there were the bodies. Even at this distance, Eren could see the broken bodies of soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for humanity. He could only pray that his friends weren’t among the dead, that they were somewhere in Trost fighting. Pushing back against the titans as they waited for the scouting regiment to return, waiting for Eren to return.

“Oi Eren, never do that again” Levi snapped as he landed beside him. After Eren had bolted, Levi had ordered his squad to refuel their gas and blades whilst he chased after the youngest squad member, only barely keeping up as they journeyed for the past hour on horseback to the wall. 

“I’m sorry, Levi, but my friends, I…” Eren stopped talking when Levi put a hand over his mouth.

“I understand why you did it, I’m just saying don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment from now, that’s what gets you killed. It doesn’t matter if you are an elite or a rookie, you act emotionally during a battle then the titans have already won. Focus on fighting the titans unless you stumble across them. Find your friends after the fight,” Levi said, and Eren nodded. He knew Levi was right. If he let his emotions fuel him, then he’ll just end up dead, “Good, first we need to clear the titans around the hole then we’ll go to HQ, it’s covered in titans and we need to refuel. Understood,”.

Again, Eren nodded before jumping off the wall, plummeting to the ground before shooting his cables out into the nape of the nearest titan as he brought his blade up and cut the nape. The only problem with fighting titans around the gate was that there wasn’t much they could hook onto considering there was a good distance from the wall to the houses. So instead, Eren swung from one titan to another. Attack the nape, move to the next titan, attack the nape, and repeat until he and Levi had killed all the titans surrounding the hole and changed their direction to HQ.

From a distance Eren hadn’t realised how crowded HQ was, titans plastered themselves to the side of the building looking in the windows, probably at the humans trapped inside.

“The supply door open, the smaller titans must be inside,” Eren said, “What should we do?”.

“We’re clear as many titans around the building, then look for a way in. That window looks smashed, so it’s safe to assume that some soldiers made a break for HQ and broke the window to get inside,” Levi said pointing at the broken windows on one side of the building which currently had two 15-metre titans staring inside, “Eren, take those two titans down, I’ll take down the surrounding ones,”.

Eren nodded, dropping onto a nearby house as he watched Levi dart ahead. It was too risky for Eren to go straight for those titans before Levi had cleared a path to reach them, so instead, he watched a blur as Levi jumped from one titan to the next, slicing its nape before moving onto the next one. Levi is amazing. You don’t get that many opportunities to watch the person they call humanity’s strongest fight, especially if you weren’t on the same squad as him, but Eren was one of the lucky ones. He watched as titan after titan fell, barely keeping up with the swift movement as Levi swung from to another. Eren knew he was skilled, he had learnt from the best, but Levi was on another level something that Eren knew he would never reach, and he was okay with that, Levi deserved all the praise he got and Eren was happy enough just being with Levi and on his squad.

“Oi Eren! Take those titans down!” Levi shouted, drawing Eren from his thoughts. He ran forward jumping off the houses letting out a stream of gas as he flew around the corner, only met with the sight of disintegrating titan corpses but Eren didn’t have the time to be impressed as he shot his cable to the nearest titan slicing its nape before moving onto the next one.

“What the–“ a voice said, and Eren’s heart soared because that voice belonged to Jean. Ignoring everything that Levi had said earlier, Eren dropped into HQ to see all his friends alive. There was Ymir, Christa, Reiner, Bertholdt, Armin, Marco, Jean with Mina, Connie, Sasha, and hell, even Ackerman was there. Not that it really surprised him, considering how skilled Ackerman was. The only person who was missing was Thomas. 

Everyone stared at him, surprised that Eren couldn’t help himself but say, “I leave you for a few hours and look what mess you’ve gotten yourself into,”.

“Eren” his friends shouted as Jean, Armin, Ymir, Christa, Connie, and Sasha threw themselves at him trying to wrap their arms around him but instead crashed into each other and somehow caught Eren in the middle, “You’re back!”.

“Yeah, Commander Erwin spotted a large cluster of titans approaching the wall and theorised that someone has breached it so they ordered us to return,” Eren said weaselling his way out of the hug, “Where’s Thomas?”.

“He died…” Mina started before trailing off.

“There was an abnormal, it jumped and the rest of us barely escaped but it still grabbed Thomas, we couldn’t save him without risking our own lives,” Armin continued. Eren could see the regret on Armin’s face, so he put his hand on Armin’s shoulder and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

“It was the right thing to do Armin, we can’t risk our emotions clouding our judgement, it will just get us killed,” Eren said as he heard someone come through the broken window and land beside him.

“Says the brat who rode recklessly to the walls after hearing they might have breached because he’d been worried about his friends,” Levi said and Eren’s cheeks flushed red.

“Gah Levi! I thought we would not mention that” Eren said embarrassed whilst Ymir grinned and threw her arm around Eren’s neck.

“Aww, Eren! I didn’t realise you loved me that much,” Ymir said, “Come on Eren why you don’t just confess your undying love for me already and then we can run away together!”.

Eren felt the blush on his cheeks deepen as he pushed Ymir away, “Get off me, you crazy woman!”.

“As much as your embarrassment is amusing, Eren, we have other things we need to focus on. Someone give me a rundown on what’s happened since we left the walls,” Levi said as his eyes scanned over everyone.

“Um… yes, Sir. About half an hour after the Scouting Regiment departed the walls, the cadets of the 104th were assigned to complete canon maintenance when the Colossal Titan appeared and breached the outer wall of Wall Rose before destroying the cannons attached to the wall. The counterattack began. The elite from the Garrison made up the vanguard and was sent out to slow down the titan invasion but they were quickly annihilated. The cadets were split up throughout Trost in squads as we fought until the civilian evacuation was a success, we’ve yet to hear the signal and we can’t climb the wall with no gas, and we can’t refuel because there are seven four-meter titans in the supply room,” Armin explained and Eren frowned that wasn’t possible, the counterattack ensured that soldiers fought titans for an hour maximum, had something happened during the evacuation that had halted it.

“We need to check out the evacuation, they might have run into some problems, but first we need to clear out the supply room of titans,” Eren said and Levi nodded.

“The blades are in the supply room so we can’t shove those in their eyes, however, there might be a box of guns left somewhere. We could use them to blind the titans. Oi, you go look for them,” Levi said pointing at Jean who darted from the room in search for the guns, “If only Erwin was here, he would probably think of a plan to kill those titans,”.

“Armin… can you? You’re smart, if we use the guns to blind the titans, can you think of a way, we can kill them?” Eren asked. If anyone could think of a plan to defeat the titans it would be Armin.

“I might already have an idea,” Armin said, “If we lower a group into the area via the lift, it will get the Titan’s attention. Then when the titans come within range, the group fires in all four directions, blinding them. With them blinded, the seven best soldiers come down from the ceiling and strike their napes. It’s risky, one wrong move and we’re dead, but it’s the only plan I can think of,”.

“It’ll work, Eren and I will go down. Eren you choose five other skilled cadets to come with us. The rest of you grab a gun from that cadet when he returns and get in the lift,” Levi ordered just as Jean opened the door and walked back in carrying a box full of guns.

“Jean, Marco and Sasha, you go in the lift. You were all skilled with the guns during training. Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Connie and Ackerman will you come with us. The rest grab a gun from Jean and get in the lift,” Eren said. He believed in his friends; they could pull this off. He knew it.

* * *

The lift was crammed with soldiers holding their guns as it slowly descended whilst Eren along with his friends, Levi and Ackerman climbed down the steps to the supply room.

“Okay, I’m gonna ask the obvious question here but can we do this without our ODM gear?” Connie asked, the others had removed their gear only holding their blades whilst Eren and Levi were the only ones still with their gear, they were lucky that they only had a bit of gas left that they could use if the plan failed and someone missed.

“No problem, these guys are only four-metres tall, their weak spots aren’t too far above eye level” Reiner answered as he walked beside Connie. Levi and Bertholdt were in front with Annie, Eren and Ackerman behind them and Connie and Reiner at the back. Honestly, this was probably the furthest Eren had seen Reiner and Bertholdt apart considering how they were always joined at the hip.

“You’ll be fine Connie, every titan no matter how tall they are, they have the same weak spot, one meter high and ten centimetres across,” Eren said, although he reminded himself to monitor Connie when they try to kill the titans just in case Connie missed.

“Worse comes to worst, you can always shove one of these up their ass,” Reiner said lifting his blade, “That’s the other weak spot!”.

“Are you talking from experience, Reiner? I’m sure Bertholdt loves having your sword shoved up his ass” Eren laughed when he heard Bertholdt’s squeak from in front of him whilst he stared at the light blush and grin on Reiner’s face.

“Oh, you bet he does, don’t you Bertholdt baby” Reiner retaliated. Bertholdt turned around, sending a glare at his boyfriend whilst his entire face was red. Eren laughed, that was Reiner for you, always thinking with his dick than his head. Their relaxed atmosphere shattered instantly when they reached the end of the stairs, Eren could feel the nerves from his friends’ skyrocket as he turned to give them all a reassuring smile before sneaking into the supply room and onto the rafters on the ceiling. Then the lift came into view. The terrified cadets stood shaking in their boots as they lifted their guns whilst the seven titans took noticed of them and slowly made their way towards them.

“Fire only when they’re all within range!” Marco shouted as other soldiers let out a scared whimper, Steady… almost… Fire!”.

With that, they filled the room with the sound of gunfire as the cadets fired at the titan’s eyes. Eren let out a deep breath as he prepared himself to jump when his eyes connect with Levi, who gave him a small smile and a nod to the head. Eren smiled back before jumping, fighting his instincts to use his gear as he raised his blades, slicing the titan’s nape. His eyes trailed around the room looking at the others, Levi, Ackerman, Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt had all killed their titans.

“Oh, Crap,” Connie said. Eren didn’t even look. He knew what had happened, he fired his cables shooting himself across the supply room, his gas supply spluttered its last but that didn’t matter, Eren sliced the titan’s nape before barely landing on his feet as he fell to the floor.

“You alright, Connie?” Eren asked his friend, who nodded his head.

“Yeah… thanks, Eren,” Connie said as he slumped to the floor and let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t mention it, what are friends for!” Eren replied before pulling Connie to his feet.

“Oi brat, refuel your gas!” Levi shouted and Eren nodded running over to the supply cylinders containing the gas and started refilling his own supply before changing his blades then he started helping the others, they had to move quickly for all they knew another titan would come barging in when they were unprepared.

The doors to the supply room slowly opened and the entire room tensed up as Levi and Eren pulled out their new blades preparing to fight but instead of a titan coming in it was Petra, with the rest of Levi’s squad and Hange, “Captain! Eren!”.

“Petra, have the others arrived yet?” Levi asked, approaching his squad.

“Not yet Captain, we road ahead with Hange on Commander Erwin’s orders. Commander Erwin plans to keep part of the scouting regiment outside the walls to take down anymore approaching titans,” Petra answered, and Levi nodded his head.

“Refuel if you haven’t already then split into pairs and support the other squads still outside if they need to refuel, tell them that HQ is titan free and they must head this way. According to a cadet, the evacuation is still ongoing, so we need to keep the titans away from the inner gate. That understood,” Levi ordered, and his squad saluted him.

“Yes, Sir,” Petra said before she looked over at Eren, “Eren, after this battle we’re having a word about you running off like that,”.

With that Levi’s squad left the supply room whilst Eren couldn’t help but shudder from that tone in Petra’s voice he was in for it when this was over.

“Oooh, you’re in trouble, Eren!” Ymir laughed and Eren glared at his friend. Her commentary wasn’t helping.

“Eren, I want you to head to the evacuation site and find out what’s slowing it down, assist if needed,” Levi ordered and Eren nodded, waving goodbye to his friends before he left the supply room.

The gate wasn’t that far from HQ and the most titan free, then the rest of the city except for one. Eren could tell from its movement alone that the titan was an abnormal, it was heading directly for the small congregation of humans still waiting to evacuate from the walls.

“It’s ignoring us” Eren heard one soldier say as they tried to keep up with the fast titan.

“It’s an abnormal,” another soldier said as Eren let out more gas, he could hear Levi in the back of his head lecturing him for wasting his gas, but he had to, the titan was moving way too fast for them to catch up if they kept saving their gas. So, Eren shot past them. He heard them shout out as he caught up with the titan slicing its nape and landing on its head as it fell to the ground. He had been lucky to get there in time one second later, then the titans would have killed the civilians.

“Hey who are yo… wait you’re a member of the scouting regiment,” one soldier said landing beside Eren after he had jumped off the decomposing titan.

“Eren Yeager, member of Captain Levi’s Special Operations Squad,” Eren introduced himself whilst doing the salute.

“Ian Dietrich, I’m in charge of the Garrison’s elite squad,” Ian introduced himself, “are the scouting regiment back?”.

“Captain Levi, his squad and Squad Leader Hange Zoe have returned and are assisting other squads in the fight, previously the titan-filled headquarters has been cleared. Members of the scouting regiment are outside the walls, taking down any further titans from entering Trost. Captain Levi sent me to assist with the evacuation. To my understanding, the counterattack plan ensured that the evacuation part should have only taken an hour to be completed yet, there are still civilians in the town. Has something happened?” Eren explained, a grim look appeared on Squad Leader Ian’s face as he motioned his head to the gate. Eren turned around to find a large man ordering the civilians to push his large wagon through the wall that wouldn’t fit.

“What’s going on? That’s wagon is far too big to fit through the gate” Eren said, moving away from the garrison soldiers and towards the civilians.

“This cargo’s worth more than anything you soldier could earn in your entire measly lives!” the man snapped, “Now order everyone to push it through,”.

“My comrades are dying as we speak. They’re fighting and dying because the citizens haven’t finished evacuating, something which should have ended hours ago,” Eren snapped, Thomas had died so that the civilians could live, more of his comrades and friends could die because the evacuating is still going on.

“It’s your duty to give your hearts to defend the lives and property of the people! Don’t go getting’ a big head now that you freeloaders have somethin’ to do after a century of uselessness!” the man shouted, Eren glared back, pulling out his swords as he took another step towards this pathetic man.

“If you understand that others dying will protect your life, then I’m sure you’ll understand that the death of a single, precious life can sometimes save the lives of many as well,” Eren said holding his blade to the man’s throat.

“Just you try it! Your employer and I go way back! One word for me and he’ll be all over your sorry ass!” The man said. He was trying to act all tough, but it wasn’t working. Eren knew that the scouting regiment wouldn’t let him go easily, not when he’s proved himself to be a skilled soldier.

“Funny, I didn’t realise a dead body could talk?” Eren laughed raising his blade preparing to bring it down as the man’s face paled and he held his hands up.

“Wait! P-pull the cart out” the man said to his men who complied with their boss’ orders and pull the wagon out, letting the civilians run through the gate.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Eren said grinning as he stepped away and the man who fell to the floor in relief. Eren couldn’t bring himself to care as he sheathed his blades and turned back to the elite squad, “The evacuation should finish smoothly now, I would evacuate yourself if you can. I’m returning to my squad”.

“Thank you… for your help” Ian said and Eren shrugged. He was just doing his duty. With that, Eren departed from the elite squad as the evacuation bell rang, alerting the rest of the squads to flee to the safety of the walls. Eren however wouldn’t leave until he knew everyone else was safe, and that’s when he heard a groan. Eren looked around to see a titan lifting an injured and barely conscious Mikasa of all people up and dropping her into its mouth. Eren didn’t have time to slice its nape, instead, he jumped into the titan’s mouth, grabbing Mikasa’s arm before she disappeared down the titan’s throat and pulled her back up.

“E-eren” Mikasa said, her eyes widening when they focused on Eren.

“Mikasa run!” Eren shouted, barely pushing Mikasa out of the titan’s mouth when it closed, the searing pain of his arm being bitten off before the titan swallowed and Eren slid down its throat.

‘I’m sorry Levi’ was his last conscious thought before he succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

Mikasa didn’t move, she couldn’t move as the titan that had eaten Eren walked off, leaving its previous prey behind. She didn’t really remember getting injured. One second, she was taking down a group of titans which had cornered a cadet squad, the next Eren was shoving her from a titan’s mouth.

“Oi cadet, have you seen Eren?” a voice said. Mikasa looked up, her eyes widening when she saw the man from earlier, Captain Levi and he was with another person, Mikasa recognised them from the test all those years ago, Hange their name was if Mikasa was remembering it correctly.

“I-I” Mikasa stuttered, her eyes tearing up. She had tried so hard during her training to protect Eren, believing that he would die if she weren’t there looking after him, yet, Eren had survived an expedition outside the walls, he had survived fighting titans and now he had died, and it was her fault. Eren had died saving her.

“Spit it out” Levi growled.

“He saved me… from a titan’s throat,” Mikasa whispered and she saw Hange’s eyes widen, “I’m sorry… Eren died saving me,”.

* * *

Levi left; he couldn’t stand there. Eren was dead, his Eren was dead. A titan had killed him, saving a girl who had nearly killed him two years ago. Just like Furlan and Isabel, Levi had left Eren alone and now he’s dead. It happened to him again. The people he cared about were dead again because he couldn’t protect them.

* * *

Hange could only watch, whilst their heart was breaking. Eren had meant so much to them, but they knew that it was destroying Levi. Hange had only heard of this from Erwin and Mike, the only two people to witness this side of Levi. Hange saw as Levi tightened his grip on his blades, they watched as Levi took down titan after titan screaming in pain. This side of Levi terrified Hange as he went berserk from the grief of losing Eren.


	17. Chapter 17

Gemini sighed; nothing ever went to plan for him. Was it that hard to breach one wall? It had worked with Maria so, in theory, it should with Rose but no, the scouting regiment had to notice early on that the walls had been breached and now, there was no way that he could communicate with Reiner so they could breach the inner wall. Everything had finally been going their way. If they forced Sina to become humanity's last defence, then the founding titan would be cornered and might reveal itself. But no, that fucking dipstick had to… no, he wasn’t even going to think about it. Gemini was going to have to play along with whatever happens next and hope that they could salvage whatever was left of this cursed mission. Again, he sighed.

‘I guess I have no choice’ Gemini thought, biting into his hand and let the other thing take control.

* * *

“Get over the wall, it’s too dangerous staying here whilst your injured” Hange said turning to the cadet before going after Levi. They understood why he was acting like this. Hell, Hange wanted to let their emotions consume them as they went on a killing spree, hoping to land the fateful blow on the titan who killed Eren, but Hange knew better. They’ve seen comrades fall the moment they became emotional in battle. They’ve just lost Eren. Humanity couldn’t lose Levi as well.

Catching up to Levi was one of the hardest things Hange could do. He moved so quickly that it was getting harder to track him. So instead, Hange followed the decaying forms of titans which Levi left behind as he shot from one titan to the next, cutting the nape in one flash of movement, then he was gone, “LEVI STOP! THIS ISN’T WHAT EREN WOULD WANT!”.

“LEVI! I KNOW YOU’RE UPSET! WE’VE BOTH LOST SOMEONE WE DEEPLY CARE ABOUT BUT GOING BERSERK AS YOU TRY TO DESTROY EVERY TITAN IN SIGHT WILL NOT END WELL!” Hange shouted which seemed to grab Levi’s attention as he stopped dropping onto the rooftop of the nearest house as he waited for Hange to catch up and stop beside him.

“I’m killing humanity’s enemy, that’s my job” Levi snapped as he changed his blunt blades.

“No, you’re not Levi, you’re letting your emotions cloud your judgement and you’re trying to get revenge on the titans for killing Eren. Eren wouldn’t want you to lose your life avenging his. For the first time in a while, you truly connected with someone and just like Furlan and Isabel,” Hange said, flinching at the glare they received at the mention of Furlan and Isabel, “I know you blame yourself for their deaths, but you can’t Levi, it was the titans who killed them not you and that’s the same with Eren. This world is cruel, and we lose people we love to it, but Levi, Eren died saving someone, that’s the person he was. We need to carry on and keep Eren in our hearts, fight in his name. We’ll find a way to defeat the titans, just like Eren would want us to do. We have to keep moving forward for him,”.

“I should’ve stayed with him, protected him. I sent him to the evacuation site to keep him away from the titans, but he still died. If I couldn’t protect him, then how am I meant to protect humanity and my squad,” Levi said, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to stop the tears from overflowing.

“Everything can’t go our way, Levi; you know that better than anyone so we have to make choices that we will regret the least,” Hange said, putting their hand on Levi’s shoulder.

“Now you’re using my own words against me…” Levi said looking up at the sky as a tear slipped out his eye and slid down his cheek, “I… I miss him”.

“We both do, but getting ourselves killed won’t do anyone any good,” Hange said, and Levi reluctantly nodded.

“I guess you’re right for once shitty glasses,” Levi said and Hange frowned.

“For once! I’m always right!” Hange yelled, hadn’t Levi been listening to anything they had said ever since they had met all those years ago, they had been right about a lot of things, titan regarding that was.

“Keep telling yourself tha… titan” Levi threw himself at Hange, pushing them out the way just before a hand shot up from the street below and tried to grab them, “Shit, how did that get so close without us noticing”.

“That’s not the only problem we’ve got a 15-metre approaching us… oh wow, I’ve never seen a titan like that before look, Levi. It’s well-proportioned compared to the other titans we’ve seen. Ooh, and look at its mouth, those exposed teeth. He’s beautiful Levi, can I keep him? We can have so much fun together, think about all the experiments I can perform oh my beautiful baby, Moblit and I would take good care of you... you need a name, I haven’t named you. Umm… what about…” Hange said, their eyes fixed on this new titan as they visually examined this titan’s shoulder-length hair, elongated ears, hooked nose and sunken eyes. They had never seen a titan like this before during any of their expeditions.

“No, we don’t have the time nor the equipment to capture a titan in the midst of an invasion,” Levi said and Hange pouted, it was such a shame to kill such a beauty, “I’ll take down the fifteen metre, you kill that four-metre,”.

Hange reluctantly nodded but before either of them could move, the fifteen-metre titan lunged for the four-metre grabbing it up from the floor ripping its nape off with a single bite. Hange’s eyes widened as their brain couldn’t comprehend fast enough what had just happened as the fifteen-metre walked past ignoring the two humans on the rooftop instead it attacked another titan coming their way. 

“WHAT!”.

* * *

“ERWIN! ERWIN YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT LEVI AND I SAW LIKE IT WAS SOO BEAUTIFUL AND IT KILLS IT OWN KIND, CAN I KEEP IT ERWIN, CAN I,” Hange shouted the second Erwin landed on the rooftop beside them with the rest of Levi’s squad.

“Hange breath,” Erwin said already use to Hange whenever they come across something exciting, “Say that again slowly”.

“There’s a titan which kills its own kind, and it’s beautiful,” Hange said much slower this time but their excitement could still clearly be heard in their voice.

“That’s impossible!” Oluo scoffed, his back turned to the titan completely missing as it lifted another titan up with its mouth before ripping its nape off.

“Levi is this true” Erwin asked. He didn’t doubt Hange, but sometimes they could be extremely eccentric over something titan related that something might have happened differently from what Hange saw.

Levi nodded his head, “I saw it with my own fucking eyes. It grabbed a four-metre titan and ripped its nape off with its teeth and it paid no attention to us, I don’t trust it, but it would be safe to assume that it doesn’t go after humans and only titans,”.

“Do you think it’s intelligent, that we could try to communicate with it?” Erwin asked turning his head around looking for this titan Levi and Hange spoke of, then he saw it in the distance close to the large boulder they’d be trying to dig up, it attacked titan after titan pulling humans from their mouth and carefully dropping them onto rooftops, so they were out of harms way before taking down the titans. If they could communicate with this titan, then they could have an effective weapon against the rest of its kind.

“What mad plan have you thought of eyebrows? You’re sounding like Hange!” Levi said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Erwin suspiciously.

“If the titan intelligent and is on humanity’s side, then we can save Trost,” Erwin started, “that giant rock, it’s large enough to cover the hole the Colossal titan has made. We don’t have the technology to move such a large rock however if that titan’s intelligent then we can communicate with it to pick up the rock and seal the breach,”.

“Erwin, you can’t be serious. Communicating with a titan, have you lost it,” Levi said.

“Levi, it’s our only option to regain Trost, unless you can come up with a better idea?” Erwin asked and Levi ‘Tch’ and looked away.

“We still need to lure the other titans away, it would be a risk to communicating with our beauty if other titans are distracting it,” Hange said, and Erwin nodded. He had considered that risk, and he already knew how to overcome that.

“I’ve already thought of that Hange. I’ll communicate with the Garrisons whilst Levi you, your squad and Hange will work to lure that titan to the rock, try everything you can to reclaim Trost,” Erwin ordered before jumping off the rooftop as he travelled towards the inner wall however, he overheard Petra asked.

“Captain, um… where’s Eren?”. And he heard Levi’s reply.

“He’s dead, he died saving a cadet from a titan,”.

Erwin’s heart dropped. It was a constant reminder of how dangerous titans were and that not even the most skilled of them were safe from them. One wrong move and that was it. They were goners, but he couldn’t let Eren’s death affect him. He had sent countless of his comrades to their deaths trying to free humanity from the fear of the titans, and Eren was the latest in a never-ending line of soldiers he had sent to their deaths.

Erwin pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind to deal with later as he arrived at the wall and climbed to the top to find Commander Pyxis there overlooking the walls.

“Erwin, it’s good to see you. I’ve only arrived on the scene, but Weilman has briefed me on the situation. Has Trost been cleared?” Pyxis asked when he saw Erwin. 

“Pyxis, we have a plan to reclaim Trost, but I need your soldiers to help,” Erwin said. He was in a rush. They needed the titans moved so that Levi and Hange could try to communicate with their rogue titan. Even though he himself thought it was a mad idea because no matter how many times Hange had tried to communicate with the titans outside the walls or the scouting regiment could capture, they had always gotten the same result that the titans couldn’t or didn’t want to communicate with them. But then again, had anyone asked Erwin yesterday whether there was a titan that fought its own kind then Erwin would have said that it didn’t exist yet, today he had witnessed with his own eyes one titan attacking and killing its own kind.

“Oh, do tell,” Pyxis said raising an eyebrow intrigued with Erwin’s proposition.

“We have a way to seal the breach, but we need the members of the garrisons and cadets to attach themselves to the side of the wall to lure the titans to them” Erwin explained, he didn’t want to mention that titan yet, no one would want to go along with his plan if they knew that it all depended on a titan being intelligent enough to work out that they need it to move the boulder from one spot to the other.

“I assume there is more to this plan than you’re willing to tell me,” Pyxis laughed, pulling out his flask and taking a swig of it, “Fine, but you’re telling the soldiers,”.

Erwin laughed but nodded. He walked over the other side of wall looking down at the crowds of soldiers relieved that they had escaped hell alive and unaware that standing above them was a man who was prepared to send them back into hell for the sake of humanity.

“ATTENTION!” Erwin shouted, drawing everyone's attention instantly to him “OUR COUNTERATTACK TO RECLAIM TROST BEGINS!”.

* * *

Unbeknown to the scouting regiment, they were currently being watched by Reiner and Bertholdt as the one soldier talked animatedly with the titan whilst stood onto of the boulder.

“They’re trying to plug up the hole with that boulder. That’s insane! These devils have no idea what they’re dealing with, and it will draw the pure titans in” Bertholdt said looking from the titan to his boyfriend then back again. He wasn’t sure whether they should let this continue or stop it, but they had had no sign from Gemini since before Bertholdt took on his titan form and breached the wall.

“Losing that titan would be a problem to our mission, these devils shouldn’t find out what’s inside that nape,” Reiner said reaching out and took Bertholdt’s hand in his as he gave it a quick squeeze, “If it goes down, I’ll step in with my Titan,”.

“What if it doesn’t? We risked a lot to make that hole. Should we really let them plug it?” Bertholdt added, but then again could they really stop them without taking their titan forms again and potentially revealing themselves as the enemy to these devils distorted idea of humanity.

“Yeah, we should. We’ve had no sign from Gemini and for all, we know this might bring out a lead we’ve spent the last five years searching for” Reiner said and Bertholdt sighed, they had no choice but to let this continue, they’ll just have to talk with Gemini when this battle ended and Trost was sealed.

“Reiner? Bertholdt?” a familiar voice said from behind them and both warriors instantly tensed as they slowly turned around to find Marco standing there, “Sorry, but what were you talking about?”.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the last chapter for 2020! Thank you, everyone, who has taken the time to read my story so far! Whether you've commented, kudos or silently lurked in the background, I just can't thank you enough for reading my story, it really means a lot to me. I can't believe we're nearly at chapter 20, like what! It feels like only yesterday I was posting this story! 
> 
> Anywho, enough of my rambling! I hope you enjoy this chapter, have an amazing new year and I'll see you in 2021!

Mikasa stared blankly into the faces of the titans below as she dangled from the edge of the wall. Her heart felt heavy in her chest. She killed Eren. It’s the truth. After everything she had done to protect him from the pain of life, she was the reason he died. He saved her from the titan’s mouth, something she didn’t believe that he should’ve done. She wasn’t worth saving, not after everything she had done to him. Yet still, he pushed her out of the mouth with a smile on his face, as he had already accepted his fate. And what was worse, she didn’t know how to break the news to Armin and the others. Does she tell them now, but the likes of Ymir and Christa won’t believe her, not that she would ever lie about something so serious like this. Or should she wait until the official list of the dead and missing is released with Eren’s name on it before she speaks up and tells them, but then again, would Ymir have a go at her for not telling them earlier. She was stuck between two potential outcomes, and she didn’t know which one to choose. Yet, Mikasa didn’t really have the right to withhold this information from them, they cared for Eren just as much as she did; she had to tell them or at least Armin about Eren’s death, but did she really want to face what happened.

Did she really want to face the thought that Eren was never coming back? That she would never see the way his face would light up whenever he used the ODM gear or the sound of his laugh whenever his friends said something silly. Mikasa during their early training days was so focused on stopping Eren from joining the Scouting Regiment that she never really made any friends with the other cadets; she was so blindsided that she never really let herself enjoy the moments Eren did. And then she lost the right to even be with Eren because she discarded his feelings and only ever thought of her own, she never considered the pain Eren suffered from the loss of his memories, she never considered how it would affect him. Until it was too late. She didn’t deserve to live. If anyone does, it’s Eren. So, all she could do now is fight for him. Fulfil Eren’s goals in his name, Eren like Armin hates being trapped within these walls and desired to see the outside world, to see the sea, to see the land beyond their walls but with the threat the titans posed to humanity those dreams will never happen if the titans still roam their world. So, for that Mikasa, herself would need to rid the world of the titans.

For Eren, she will kill all the titans.

* * *

“Dammit! Where did Reiner, Bertholdt and Marco disappear to during a time like this?” Jean swore as he took down another titan. After being forced to rearm themselves and descend back into the hell which had engulfed Trost because the Scouting Regiment Commander believed they could reclaim his hometown from the titans. It was truly mad and pointless; it would only invoke more wasteful deaths. Trost belonged to the titans now, Commander Erwin needed to accept that. They should be glad that the Armored Titan hasn’t appeared and breached the inner Wall of the Trost District, that they hadn’t completely lost Wall Rose and forced Wall Sina to become humanity’s last defence.

“Marco went to find them. Apparently, they never climbed the Wall and if either Reiner or Bertholdt got injured the other won’t leave them behind,” Mina said as she took down a titan and landed beside Jean.

“Shit, this whole thing’s a shitshow. We’ve lost Trost sooner the higher-ups realise that the sooner we can pull out of here,” Jean said, discarding his blunt blades and attaching his spares, “Where’s Yeager when you need him?”.

“Eren, he’s probably with the rest of the Scouting Regiment wherever they are,” Mina said dodging a titan’s arm before swinging around behind it and slicing its nape.

“Well, ain’t he lucky being kept away from the fighting, shouldn’t the scouting regiment be on the ground taking the titans down, not us. They've got the experience, not us cadets” Jean grumbled. Commander Erwin’s grand plan is for most of the Garrison and Cadets to hook themselves onto the wall to draw the titans to them and then a small group of garrison soldiers and cadets spread themselves out on the houses to take down any stray titans to prevent them from heading towards the other side of the wall where the scouting regiment was with whatever secret weapon, they had to seal up an eight-metre hole.

“Just think about it, Jean, you’ve got bragging rights when you join the Military Police, you’ve killed titans and lived they couldn’t say that. Doesn’t that immediately give you a lead over the others?” Mina laughed, “And when I join the Scouting Regiment, they have to respect me because I fought in Trost and took down five titans,”.

“Lucky me” Jean muttered to himself, but it was still loud enough that Mina could hear, “So, you’re joining that suicidal bastard in the Scouting Regiment?”.

“Yep, unlike you, I’m not skilled enough to be in the Military Police and… Eren’s right. We’ve lived our lives inside these walls, we’ve ridiculed the Scouting Regiment for even daring to leave the walls yet never considered what our lives would be like if we finally got rid of the titans and lived free from these walls. You know, Thomas and I once asked Eren where his desire to leave the walls came from considering how drowned into us it is that we’re safe inside the walls and that we should never think about leaving. He became quiet for a while like his mind was stuck inside a memory before answering,” Mina started cutting another titan’s nape before dropping beside Jean, “Eren said that humans fight over everything to gain whatever they desire yet, everyone is comfortable not to fight for their freedom, something that’s just as important as food or water. If we can accept living inside these walls for the rest of our days, then why don’t we accept that we’re lucky to get what we’re given. If we’ve all been through the same things, then why are there people who are extremely rich and living in luxury ignoring those who suffer. Eren mentioned how it’s the Rich who complain about us leaving the walls more so than the actual poor because they have the most to lose. They’re safe inside Wall Sina whilst they force the rest of us to die during the breaches. I mean, the Operation to reclaim Wall Maria proves that. It got me thinking whether life for us would be better if we’re not forced to live inside the walls yet, to do so we need to rid our world of the titans,”.

“Huh… that’s Eren for you. He seems to have an answer to everything” Jean whispered. He never considered it that way, but there is some truth behind that. Even in Trost people struggle daily to get the necessities they need to live whilst those pig-headed bastards in Sina gorge themselves on their finest delicacies and ignore the rest of humanity's suffering.

“Hey Jean, have you ever noticed the way Eren sometimes talks, likes he’s years older than us instead of being the same age,” Mina suddenly said, and Jean frowned.

“Sometimes but I’ve always put it down to the fall, you know having to grow up faster” Jean replied. Eren would always seem older whether he was saying something inspirational as if he had lived through something similar.

“Me to but Mikasa, Armin, Reiner or Bertholdt aren’t like that and they’ve lived through the fall as well. They’ve suddenly had to grow up after losing their homes and families, yet they don’t act old,” Mina replied.

“Are you saying that Eren’s been through more than just the fall of the wall?” Jean said he wasn’t sure what Mina was getting at.

“Who knows, it’s just…” Mina trailed off as if she wasn’t sure how to continue, “I overheard Armin and Mikasa talking once and they mention how Eren’s adopted that he was found one day and brought to the home Mikasa was living in. Eren never acts like it. But what if something happened before being adopted that made him this way, seeking freedom? Like he’s spent most of his life trapped somehow, it’s just… I don’t know about you, but with Eren, I feel like I can trust him like he’s my older brother. Eren made me realise that I didn’t want to live inside these walls for the rest of my life so, I decided that I wanted to join the Scouting Regiment to experience the freedom Eren so desperately craves for,”.

“I’m not as brave as you Mina, after today, I don’t want to face the titans again,” Jean said looking into the distance. He was a little worried, Marco still hadn’t returned now.

“Don’t worry Jean, Marco’s strong he won’t die easily and if he’s found Reiner and Bertholdt, I’m sure they’ll protect him,” Mina said when she saw the worried look on Jean’s face, “Plus, he’s not allowed to die until you’ve confessed your feelings for him. Your pinning is driving the rest of us insane,”.

Jean felt his cheeks heat up as Mina giggled, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Carolina,”.

* * *

“Oh, I wish Moblit was here if only he could see how beautiful you are but he’s too busy helping the rest of the regiment prevent any more titans coming inside the wall,” Hange said as they landed on the boulder, they were hoping to convince this abnormal titan to pick it up and hopefully seal the wall. Hange is positive that this titan beauty could do it, they could see it in this titan’s green eyes, the spark of intelligence. They had seen that this titan was intelligent because it knew what its own weak spot is, aiming for it everything it attacked another one of its own kind. This titan handled humans with care as if it knew that they were fragile compared to him. Now, all Hange needed to do was somehow convince it to pick this boulder up and carry it to the wall.

“Oi four-eyes be careful! Moblit would have a heart attack if he knew you were this close to an unpredictable titan” Levi shouted, but Hange ignored him as the titan stepped closer, but its eyes still scanned its surroundings looking for any other titans but found none. Whatever Erwin plans to keep the titans away, it was working.

“Hello, beauty! My name is Hange Zoe! It’s lovely to meet you,” Hange said to the titan who looked at them raising its hand halfway to cover its nape before freezing as if it was thinking something over before letting its hand drop to its side, “Levi! Levi! Did you see that it recognises that its own weak spot is the same as the other titans, yet it trusts us enough to not protect it! See, Erwin’s right, this titan has intelligence. Oh, I need my notebook. Must. Make. Notes!”.

“Oi Hange focus! We don’t know who long eyebrow’s plan will keep the other titans away. We need to seal the breach now!” Levi shouted and Hange sighed, putting their notebook away, but not before making a mental note that the second it seals the wall. Hange needs to climb onto the wall and write everything that happens down.

“Now my darling, I need you to do me a favour… wait, I haven’t given you a name yet! How rude of me! Umm… now what to call you?” Hange muttered to themselves as they went through all the potential names that they could choose, “How about…”.

Hange continues to pounder the name but was instantly pulled out of their thoughts at a growl which happened to sound a lot like their name. Hange look up at their titan beauty, their eyes wide, “Did you… did you just say my name! Ahh! Levi! The titan said my name”.

Hange didn’t know what to think, whilst the titan hadn’t verbally said their name but instead made a garbled attempt at it. It was still clear enough that someone could make out what it had said, and one quick look to the members of Levi’s squad confirmed that they weren’t the only one who heard it. The titan itself seemed surprised with what it said like they hadn’t meant for it to come out its mouth, kinda like when you think something yet didn’t realise that you spoke it as well. The titan took a step back, preparing to flee.

“Noo, don’t worry my baby! I’m happy to hear you speak!” Hange shouted putting their hands up and silently hoped that the titan didn’t run away because if it did then Erwin’s plan fell apart, they had no other way to move this boulder without the strength of this titan.

The titan looked at Hange a little unsure, moving its head around to look at the other humans surrounding it, its eyes lingering a little longer on Levi before returning to look at Hange.

“I promise they won’t hurt you, they’re actually here to protect you. As I said, we need you to do us a favour and I’m sure you’re intelligent enough to understand,” Hange started before pointing at the boulder they were standing on then pointed at the titan, “I need you to use your strength to pick up this boulder and carry it to that hole,”.

With every keyword, Hange tried to mimic what the titan needed to do from picking up the boulder to walking over to the hole with it. The titan stared at them, then to the wall, then back at Hange. It didn’t move staring at the boulder as if it were trying to figure out whether it should go through with what Hange was asking but eventually it moved forward, stopping right in front of the boulder, lifting its arm and pointed its finger at Hange then to the nearest rooftop.

“What?” Hange said, and the titan repeated the action.

“It wants you off the boulder shitty glasses,” Levi said and Hange reluctantly obliged using their ODM gear to land on the rooftop beside the boulder. The titan then took a step back again checking their surrounding for more titans, but it was clear, Erwin’s plan is still working but even Hange knew they had lost pivotal time whilst they had spoken with the titan, not that they regret it, this is the longest they’ve been close to a titan that hadn’t either try to kill them or been tied to the ground. If only Eren could see them now, talking to a titan that helped them defeat other titans. He would be so excited to learn about a potential new ally to humanity. Maybe that’s what Hange should call this titan – Jaeger, in memory on Eren. It’s another way to spell Eren’s last name, and in the olden days when multiple languages existed Jaeger was German for Hunter. Hange thought it’s very fitting for this titan, he hunted other titans and protected humans. Just like what Eren wanted to do.

Hange pushed their thoughts of Eren to the side. They needed to focus now. Hange watched as once Jaeger was happy that their surroundings are clear. He bent down and picked up the boulder, lifting it above his head. Both hands planted on either side of the boulder to steady it before taking a step forward then stopped checking that he did indeed have a good grasp on it, then he started moving again. Hange cheered as they followed Jaeger from one rooftop to another, shouting “Go, Jaeger!”.

* * *

Eren couldn’t really make any sense of his situation. He remembered dying or at least being swallowed by a titan yet; he didn’t feel dead. His body is moving, but it isn’t. His legs remained stationary, but Eren felt himself moving. He could hear the shouts from Hange talking rapidly at him asking him to move a boulder and seal the wall and Eren felt his body reacting to this, doing what Hange asked of him but he’s not moving his arms yet, he is. He feels the weight of the boulder pressed against his shoulders, but he knows there’s isn’t anything actually on his shoulders. Nothing makes sense anymore, but at the same time it does, he’s somehow moving the large boulder in Trost to seal the wall so he keeps pushing forward. Urging himself to go faster yet he can’t, the weight of the boulder is slowing him down that every step he takes feels like an eternity has passed.

Then Eren’s not moving the boulder anymore. He stood in this place again. A world of sand with stars twinkling in the sky, he’s stood in front of the giant pillar of light that branched out like a tree, the girl he saw last time stood inside it. It’s strange, whilst Eren knew he wasn’t carrying that boulder anymore, that he wasn’t moving anywhere, he still felt like he was. As if his body was still trying to save Trost whilst his mind was elsewhere.

“Eren Yeager,” the girl said tilting her head to the side as if she was confused, “Or are you?”.

“Huh? What do you… mean?” Eren said just as confused as the girl, he’s quite sure he’s name is Eren Yeager consider that is the only thing he remembered when the Scouting Regiment found him.

“You’re not… whole. You lack your true self, even with the use of your power. You are still not right,” the girl said, stepping further into the light.

“What’s that meant to mean? You’re the person who wanted me to find you!” Eren shouted as he too stepping closer to the light.

“You are no help to me with your true self locked away. Unlock it, Eren Yeager, remember who you are” The girl said slowly disappearing but Eren refused to let that happen as he lunged into the light grabbed her arm and then he was gone.

_He’s running, this time he knows that. He felt fear surround his being yet, it’s not this own. He looked down at his body, yet it wasn’t his own. It’s much shorter than him, wearing a tattered dress with leather sandals laced just above his ankles. This wasn’t his memory but that girl, grabbing her must have somehow forced Eren to see something that had happened to her. He no - the girl stumbled through the forest, running from the loud footsteps chasing after her, the sound of bows being drawn, then… they fired. The girl screamed, covering her head with her arms before an arrow slammed into her shoulder._

_Stumbling forward she fell into a small clearing clutching her arm. The footsteps got closer. The girl struggled to her feet as she trudged forward, eyes landing on a small opening in a tree big enough for her to fit inside with no problems. He felt her heart hammering in her chest as the footsteps got closer. She dropped to her knees, crawling inside the tree, and then the earth gave way. He was falling but Eren couldn’t find a reason to care… no that wasn’t him thinking it hers. She didn’t care; she didn’t care whether she died and then Eren felt this body hit water sinking deeper and deeper, neither fighting to get to the surface. His/ her eyes closed and…_

Eren’s thrown from the light, his heart slamming against his ribcage as he stared at the girl who’d fallen to her knees, her eyes open and clear for the first time since Eren met her, tears streaming down her cheeks. Deep down Eren knew, he knew who this was, and he didn’t know why he did. This girl was Ymir Fritz, and she’s the first.

* * *

Neither Reiner nor Bertholdt made it over the wall when the evacuation bell finally sounded which left the question of whether they were still alive or somehow a titan had eaten them, and if that were the case then Jaws would need to find the new inheritors of the Colossal and Armored Titans and get them back to Marley. So, they pass their powers down to Marcel and Porco the only spare warrior candidates Marley had. Unless they started training some more. Jaws really didn’t want to halfway through their five-year mission have to return to his hometown to replace two of their shifters because their own plan backfired on them.

However, Jaws could breathe a sigh of relief when he noticed his fellow warriors on a rooftop both very much alive.

“They’re trying to plug up the hole with that boulder. That’s insane! These devils have no idea what they’re dealing with, and it will draw the pure titans in,” Jaws heard Bertholdt say to Reiner.

“Losing that titan would be a problem to our mission, these devils shouldn’t find out what’s inside that nape,” Reiner responded grabbing Bertholdt’s hand. God, even in the middle of Titan territory Reiner couldn’t go five seconds without touching Bertholdt, “If it goes down, I’ll step in with my Titan,”.

“What if it doesn’t? We risked a lot to make that hole. Should we really let them plug it?” Bertholdt asked.

“Yeah, we should. We’ve had no sign from Gemini and for all, we know this might bring out a lead we’ve spent the last five years searching for” Reiner said, and Jaws heard Bertholdt sigh. Jaws landed on the rooftop behind his fellow warriors, rolling his eyes at the fact that they felt comfortable enough to talk about their top-secret mission without checking whether others might turn up and overhear them.

“Reiner? Bertholdt?” Jaws said, taking great pleasure in watching them tense up before they slowly turned around to look at him, “Sorry, but what were you talking about?”.

“Marco! You scared me” Reiner said as he and Bertholdt relaxed when they saw their fellow warrior.

“Yeah, well, you probably shouldn’t be talking about our mission out in the open for anyone to hear,” Marco said rolling his eyes as he walked over to the other two titan shifters, “You’ll lucky that I came looking for you and not anyone else. What are you even doing here?”.

“See for yourself, the scouting regiment have convinced that titan to seal the breach with the boulder” Reiner said pointing over to a titan carrying the large boulder over its head as it slowly made its way to the wall.

“Rei believes that we should leave it be, I’m not so sure because Gemini planned to breach both walls, yet we haven’t heard from him for obvious reasons. The only two options are one of us shifting to stop them or letting them seal the hole” Bertholdt explained and Marco nodded, Gemini is their leader, they’re all close to him and would follow him to the end of the earth but Gemini had said on many occasions that if they couldn’t find him or get to him, then they should make their own choices and that he would stand by their decisions no matter what.

“Our option would be to get the shifter out of their titan’s neck. We can’t send you Bert because that titan can’t withstand your titan’s explosive transformation even if you controlled it. And I bet humanity strongest is with them. Can we even risk the rest of us without knowing his fighting style and figuring out whether he can take us down,” Marco said, and even if they went to get Annie by the time, they’ve found her, the wall would be sealed.

“Do you think if humanity found out about the titan shifters that the founding titan would be forced out of hiding? I mean after the great titan war and the devils fled to this island, the king used his titan power to change the memories of his Eldian subjects, the last thing the true royal family needs is for humanity to learn about titan shifters,” Reiner said looking at Marco.

“Maybe… I’ve mentioned this to Gemini before, but I feel like there’s something else at play here. We’ve believed that destroying Wall Maria would bring the founding titan out of hiding, but it didn’t, instead, the royal government sent the refuges from Maria out into titan territory with only a handful of Scouting Regiment Soldiers to help them. If the king is happy to kill his own people off, then maybe he won’t care if we destroy Wall Rose or Wall Sina. The whole of humanity by now should know about the Trost District being breached yet, the founding titan hasn’t appeared and maybe it never will. Let humanity reclaim Trost, I think we need to take another route in finding the founding titan,” Marco suggested as the three titan shifters watched as the other titan took another step closer to the wall, “After the battle has ended, we’ll find Gemini and discuss what we need to do next, but I won’t be surprised if our attention will turn to deal with that titan shifter,”.

“Okay, let’s hope Gemini knows what to do?” Bertholdt said, and Marco couldn’t help but laugh.

“Please, you know just as I do Bert that Gemini wings half of this,” Marco couldn’t help saying, “Come on, we better get back to the others before they get even more suspicious to where we’ve disappeared to,”.

“Aww, do you miss Jean that much?” Reiner teased, suggestively raising his eyebrows.

“Shut it Braun” Marco glared although his cheeks heated up at the mention of his feelings for the horse faced cadet.

* * *

Erwin dithered with Pyxis for as long as he could, spreading reassurance to the Garrisons and Cadets as they drew in the titans by strategically placing themselves at different safe heights on the wall with another spread out group killing any titan stragglers. Everything this end of the district needs to work to ensure that Hange and Levi had enough time to figure out how they could convince a titan of all things to pick up the rock and carry it to the hole, Erwin himself wasn’t sure how they were going to succeed at doing that, but he trusted the abilities of Levi and Hange to figure out a way.

Sending the Garrisons and Cadets back into Trost was like pulling teeth, after escaping that hell no one wanted to return to it however Erwin convinced them that it was for the good of humanity or well if they didn’t seal Trost then the Armored Titan may still appear and breach Wall Rose forcing all their loves ones to experience the fear that the titans bring, and Erwin questioned whether everyone wanted that to happen. People may call him heartless, but sometimes he didn’t have the choice but to be heartless. He’s the Scouting Regiment Commander, he led countless soldiers to their deaths at this point being heartless came with the job.

Once, everything had settled, and everyone was in their places. Erwin gave Pyxis control as he wanted to return his regiment and check whether everything was going to plan. The streets of Trost were empty as he flew through the city, all the titans being lured to the other end except one. Erwin felt relieved to see that his idea had worked. The titan was slowly making his way towards the hole with the large boulder over its head.

“Levi, have we had any problems?” Erwin asked when he landed on the rooftop beside the man in question.

Levi shook his head, “Other than Hange nearly having a mental breakdown because the titan made some noise which sounded like their name,”.

“The titan can talk?” Erwin asked, surprised. They haven’t found a titan who could speak before, but Levi again shook his head.

“It was garbled noises than anything, and it looked just as surprised as we did,” Levi said and Erwin nodded his head jumping onto the next rooftop as the titan moved further on, turning slightly when he reached the end of the houses. It was nearly there all he had to do was put the boulder in place and the mission would’ve been a success. For the first time in a hundred years, humanity would have won against the titans.

The titan roared, and the wall shook at the force it slammed the boulder into the hole and then it slumped to the ground as if it had used up all its energy carrying the boulder from one place to another.

“You did it, Jaeger!” Hange shouted jumping onto Jaeger’s slumped shoulder before their eyes landed on Erwin and they jumped off darting over to the roof Erwin stood on, “Erwin please! Can I keep it! I promise I’ll look after it!”. 

Erwin shook his head at the sight of Hange’s enthusiasm, however, before Erwin could even open his mouth to respond, a gasp from Petra drew everyone’s attention as she pointed to the titan’s nape, her eye wide and said, “Oh my god Eren”.

Erwin frowned as he let his eyes trail over to the titan, and he felt his heart stop. The nape of the titan was wide open as if someone had cut it from inside but that wasn’t it, inside the nape attached to the titan form was Eren. Unconscious, but alive. 

“Commander, how is this possible?” Eld asked, and Erwin didn’t reply. How could he? He didn’t even know it was possible that humans could turn into titans, let alone their own Eren could. Unless this had something to do with Eren’s memories.

“Levi grab Eren and keep him out of sight from the Garrisons. If Eren has the ability to turn into a titan, then we need to keep that quiet for now,”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, was anyone expecting that?


	19. Chapter 19

Marco, Reiner and Bertholdt quickly returned to Jean and Mina before the evacuation bell sounded minutes after the yellow smoke signal showing that they had successfully reclaimed Trost appeared in the sky. Marco doubts the scouting regiment will stick around after discovering the human inside that titan's nape whilst forcing the rest of them to clean up the mess in Trost. When they returned to the walls' safety, the three warriors met up with Ymir, Connie, Christa, and Sasha.

"Look who finally turned up!" Ymir said when she saw Reiner and Bertholdt.

"Are you hurt?" Christa asked, scanning all three cadets for any injuries, but they shook their heads, Reiner wrapping his arm around Bertholdt's waist, pulling him close.

"You know I'd let nothing happen to my angel" Reiner smirked before kissing Bertholdt's cheeks repeatedly. With each kiss, Bertholdt's cheeks slowly turned more and more red.

"Oh, don't tell me you two were getting frisky with each other in Titan Territory," Ymir said, raising her eyebrows. Bertholdt's face slowly turning crimson as Reiner laughed, kissing his boyfriend's neck instead of responding.

"Yeah, you should've seen them when I stumbled across them," Marco teased, jabbing Reiner in the ribs.

"Marco!" Bertholdt shouted before burying his head in Reiner's neck to hide from the embarrassment he feels. Marco grinned.

"Hey, I saw how low that hand was getting Braun," Marco said enjoying the light blush dusting Reiner's cheeks or Bertholdt trying his hardest to hide his face and avoid making eye contact with anyone. Marco loved moments like these because it reminded him of being home and messing around with each other during their warrior training.

"Marco" Jean shouted, running over to them. After they reclaimed Trost, the soldiers taking part in reclaiming it must report what happened and whether they could fill in anything they might have seen about how the scouting regiment moved the boulder to the wall. Marco and the others had already filled in their reports omitting minor details about seeing the scouting regiment convince a titan to pick up a said boulder and move it. Marco is sure that anyone spilt the beans on that they would be considered crazy.

"Hey Jean" Marco said, smiling, ignoring how his heart sped up. Like Reiner had ungratefully pointed out earlier during their five-year mission he'd grown attached to one of these island devils by mistake. Jean was everything that an Eldian boy back home wasn't, Jean might be a little hot-headed, but he's sweet and charming. Sometimes Marco wished that he'd been born here on this island, where he could meet and be with Jean without all the lies that would befall them if Marco dared to enter a relationship with this island... could he even call Jean a devil?

"Can I borrow you for a second?" Jean asked, and Marco nodded, following the other cadet. Marco wasn't sure where Jean was taking him. Jean refusing to say anything after grabbing his arm, pulling him around those in their way before reaching an empty alleyway. Jean pulled Marco further into the alleyway until they were out of sight, then Jean let go of his arm, turning around quickly before pushing him hard against the wall.

"Jean, what are you doi… mwa" Marco's heart froze, Jean's hand's cups both his cheeks, pulling his face down slightly as Jean pressed his lips against Marco's. Marco just stood there completely frozen; Jean is kissing him. Jean Kirstein, someone who never seemed to show any interest in him (romantically speaking) is kissing him. Internally shaking himself out of his frozen state, Marco's hands found Jean's waist, pulling the other cadet flushed against his own body before returning the kiss with the same ferocity. Just as quickly as it had started had it ended, Jean pulling away from Marco, cheeks flushed and eyes wide like it had only newly registered in his mind what he'd done.

"I gotta go" Jean muttered before darting out the alley, leaving an equally flustered Marco behind. 

* * *

_He’s dreaming or remembering. The swirl of memories locked away from his reach expect a new one. This time he’s standing atop a wall nowhere as tall as the Walls protecting humanity, this one being only twenty metres, overlooking a sandy wasteland. Eren knew where he is despite never setting foot here, or at least he doesn’t remember, but he’s on Paradis where the island met the ocean. This time he isn’t alone, stood beside him holding his hand is his older brother Zeke and kneeling on the edge of the wall with their hands bandaged are people. Eren recognised from another memory when the public security authorities took his parents because they were a part of the Eldian resistance, but why were they here. Why was he here?_

_Eren watched as one-person Grice he remembers is shoved off the wall sliding down the other side seconds before the others except these Eldians were injected with some strange fluid into the back of their necks then kicked down the other side. Zeke’s hand tightened around his own when all they can see is a bright light and then nothing. Eren pulled his hand from his brother’s and slowly stepped closer to the edge, too scared to go right up to the edge but close enough to look over. His eyes widened as he looked down. There weren’t any bodies but titans ranging from 4 metres or 15._

_“Eren! Zeke! Why are they here?” the voice said. Eren turned away from the titans, who had now taken off after the alive and screaming Grice to see his parents being dragged onto the walls from the ship below. Their hands covered in bandages and they looked sick like they hadn’t eaten or slept in days. Eren wasn’t sure how long it’s been since he saw his parents last, but they seemed equally surprised to see them._

_“To prove your loyalty to the motherland, you Eldian devils will inject your parents with the serum. Failure to do so will cause us to inject you” the one man said who is high as he is wide who is bold with little black hair on the side of his head, Gross - the man, is called. Much taller than the first, another man stepped forward, opening a small case that contained two syringes filled with the same liquid. Eren reached out, his hands shaking as he took the needle whilst another two men forced his parents onto their knees. Eren looked at his brother, who weakly smiled, taking the other syringe, stepping up behind their mother whilst Eren stood behind their father._

_“Eren, Zeke. Don’t worry. I don’t blame you, remember that your father and I will always love you” Dina said, her eyes tearing up, as Zeke injected their mother pushing her off the wall. This time Eren saw what happened inside that light. He watched his mother disappear inside that light and then a large titan appeared in her place, at least 15 metres with short blonde hair._

_“Times a wasting brat, turning your pops or I’ll turn you” Gross sneered, and Eren closed his eyes as he pushed the needle into his father’s neck pushing the plunger forcing the liquid out of the syringe before pushing his father off the wall just like his brother had done. Eren didn’t watch his father turn into a titan. Instead, he turned his back on it._

_“Eren, are you okay?” Zeke asked, wrapping his arm around his little brother._

_“I’m fine,” Eren said, shaking his brother’s arm off, “They are traitors, they deserved it”._

The memory faded, and this time Eren woke up lying on his back inside the paths again. He groaned pushing himself to his feet brushing the sand from his head and clothes before freezing when his eyes landed on someone in front of him, but it wasn’t Ymir Fritz who was standing before him but instead it was himself.

“What the…” Eren said. This person was him. The same hair, the same eyes, the same clothes, the same everything. But that couldn’t be possible. He didn’t have a twin, only one older brother.

“Hello Eren,” the other him said, sending a shiver down his spine as he heard his voice come out this other person mouth, “I’m sure you have many questions, but I need you to listen to me, we only have a short time”.

“Who are you?” Eren said, and the other him sighed.

“I’m you Eren, or at least I’m you with all your missing memories, but to save any confusion you can call me Hunter,” he – hunter said. Eren blinked, hunter just like the nickname Zeke gave him.

“You’re me with my memories. Tell me what I don’t know?” Eren asked this was the closest thing he’d gotten to find out about what happened to him.

“Eren, you. We willingly blocked some of our memories to protect ourselves from them. Eren I need you to promise me, the memories you’ve slowly gained, those that slipped through our block. You can’t tell anyone, not Levi, Erwin or Hange. You need to promise me,” Hunter said, “You don’t understand the situation we’re currently in,”.

“What does that mean?” Eren said confused, how the hell could he willingly block his memories from himself, why would he do that?

“It means that I need you to act like you’ve been doing since the scouting regiment found you, a person with no memories. Until it’s ready, it’ll it’s time for you to remember. Until you’re safe,” Hunter said.

“If there’s an issue then why can’t I tell Levi or Hange, they might be able to help,” Eren said, if there’s an issue that Eren had to lose his memories to protect himself willingly then won’t humanity’s stronger be the perfect candidate to help him.

“You’ve had some memories about Zeke. Our brother,” Hunter asked, and Eren nodded, “They have Zeke, these people have him, and if they find out you’ve, we’ve been spilling their secrets then… Eren promise me you can’t tell anyone,”.

“But if someone has Zeke. Wouldn’t our best-case scenarios be telling those who can help us rescue him?” Eren said. His heart was soaring in his chest as he heard that his brother is still alive.

“I wish it were possible, but we can’t Eren. They have a spy hidden within these walls called Gemini, and he’s loyal to their cause. If he, if he discovers and he will, but if he discovers that you’ve told them everything that you know, then he’ll kill you, Zeke, and everyone you’ve told. They’re only keeping him to hold as leverage over us,” Hunter said, his eyes filled with worry, “Please Eren for the sake of your brother, keep your mouth shut,”.

“On one condition,” Eren said. He hated keeping something about his life hidden from Levi and Hange, people he trusted with his life, but if this risked Zeke’s life, how could he tell them only to lose his brother. Maybe he can hint at them that something else is at play without tipping this Gemini person off.

“What?” Hunter asked.

“Our parents, that injection. It turned them into titans, right? Why? Why were Zeke and I forced to do that?” Eren asked, and Hunter sighed.

“Our parents were trying to overthrow these people but were caught. The motherland lets call it, created a serum which can turn humans into titans. Which was then injected into people consider traitors to the motherland. They forced us to do this to prove our loyalty to them” Hunter explained and Eren stared at his shoes. This confirmed his suspicion after seeing that memory of parents being turned into titans. His mother’s titan killed his adoptive mother and that pure titan outside the walls grabbed and nearly killed Oluo, that titan used to be his father. Eren had killed his father twice.

* * *

Eren groaned as he opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. This time he wakes up in his room at the Scouting Regiment Headquarters, although he wasn’t sure how he got there. The last thing he properly remembered was being with Hange after sacrificing his life to save Mikasa and losing his arm in the process. The same arm Eren noticed, which has somehow grown back. His head ached. So much was happening to him in these last couple of days he’s struggling to comprehend everything, and now, he’s discovered that he himself is the reason behind the loss of his memories, some decision made to protect himself. And now, he’s made a deal with himself to keep everything he slowly learned from people he trusts.

“Finally awake, huh brat,” Levi said, pushing the door open.

“Levi… what happened?” Eren asked, pushing himself to his feet.

“Follow me, Erwin wants to have a meeting the moment you woke up,” Levi said. Eren nodded suddenly feeling worried that something bad had happened whilst he’s out, or maybe he spoke in his sleep and revealed something he wasn’t meant to reveal which honestly was a slowly growing list.

“Did I do something?” Eren asked Levi shook his head.

“Not something we can discuss in the open” Levi said which only worried Eren more and from the grim look on Erwin’s face when they walked into his office with Hange already present only intensified that feeling.

“Ah Eren, it’s good to see you’re awake. Do you have any pain?” Erwin asked, smiling, a normal defence expression Erwin used on everyone when he tried to reassure them whilst not really knowing what is going on himself.

“No, I feel oddly fine, maybe a little tired” Eren said, sitting down in a spare chair in front of Erwin’s desk.

“That’s wonderful… Eren, can you tell us what happened during the battle. Everything from arriving at Trost to waking up here. I’ve already heard Levi and Hange’s side. I want to understand what personally happened to you please,” Erwin asked, and Eren nodded.

“Levi and I arrived at the wall to find it breached, we took down any titans surrounding the breach before heading to HQ which at the time was crawling with titans after successfully entering the building, Levi, a select few of cadets from the 104th and I cleared out the supply base which had some titans inside before resupplying. Levi then ordered that I check the evacuation site as according to a cadet the Colossal Titan had breached the wall not even an hour after we left Trost. In theory, the evacuation should have been over by then. I discovered a merchant was blocking the gate with his wagon; I could convince him to remove it, thus finishing the evacuation. When I was on my way back, I found an injured and barely conscious cadet being thrown into a titan’s mouth, I saved her, however, couldn’t get out of its mouth, and it swallowed me,” Eren said clinging to his left arm tightly.

“Is there anything else?” Erwin asked, and Eren nodded.

“I remember a dream like I was moving, but I wasn’t, or I was carrying something heavy, but I physically wasn’t. It sounds odd, but that’s what it felt like, like I was in control of my body yet at the same time I wasn’t,” Eren explained, though that dream obviously being the less weird thing he’s experienced recently.

“Eren let me fill you in on what happened next,” Erwin said, “Levi and Hange discovered a titan who ignored humans and only went after other titans, I devised a plan to use this titan to seal Trost by picking up the boulder and carrying it to the breach. We were sceptical that it would work as we’ve never seen a titan attack its own kind before or have, we succeeded in communicating with one. But despite our reservations, Hange could convince the titan to pick the boulder up and seal the hole. Eren, what shocked us the most was… inside the nape was a human body; it was connected to the tissue inside the titan, Hange theorise that the human could control the titan that way. Eren I’m going to be honest with you, that human inside the titan was you. Do you remember anything about your time as a titan or all along have you known you could become a titan but wasn’t sure we’d believe you if you told us?”.

“What? That’s impossible…” Eren trailed off, his eyes catching the sight of his left arm, the same arm he remembered being bitten off. Just the sight of it proved that somehow, it’d grown back and the only creatures who can regenerate body parts are the titans, and then there is that memory it proved that somehow we could turn humans into titans. Is this what Ymir Fritz meant when they first met, that he’s the inheritor of some unknown power? Was this his power being able to turn into a titan yet with the ability to turn back, 

“I lost my arm after pushing Mikasa out of the titan’s mouth, yet it grew back. How is this possible?”.

“Eren I have a possible theory, it is to do with your memories or lack of. You couldn’t remember how you got outside the walls or anything about your life before we found you. I think you might have been some experiment to see whether humanity could gain some power over the titans. I can’t be sure, but maybe whoever conducted this experiment believed you were a failure and threw you away for the titans to deal with. Maybe that’s why you lost your memories, trying to block something traumatic from your mind,” Hange theorised, reaching over Hange grabbed Eren’s hand and squeezed it.

“If that’s true, then why I have I only just unlocked these powers?”   
Eren asked unsurely; he could only assume from certain memories that he knew about his titan powers before, so why the motherland would discard him if they knew that Eren could do this made little sense. Surely, they wouldn’t want to lose this power unless Eren escaped, but why didn’t he bring Zeke with him. Even though he had some more answers, there were still large chunks of his life that made little sense.

“Maybe they needed to be incubated for a period, or you need to do something specific to trigger them, Eren; we’re not sure but after next week. Levi’s squad, Moblit and I will travel to our old headquarters with you to conduct some experiments and find out. This means we will have to tell Moblit and Levi’s Squad about your condition. Is that alright with you?” Hange asked, and Eren nodded his head. He wanted to use these powers to help humanity against the titans.

“I’ll do whatever I need to. I want to use these powers to help humanity, but first I need to learn how to use and control them,” Eren said, giving Hange a small smile.

“That’s wonderful to hear Eren,” Erwin said, smiling, “Of course, there is only so much Hange can find out. I believe that the answers we seek on how you were made into this titan shifter are outside Wall Maria, which means on our next expedition we will return to Shiganshina and then past Wall Maria to find this laboratory. Maybe being there will unlock your memories,”.

“Okay,” Eren said. He’d never expected it to be this easy to convince the scouting regiment to return to Wall Maria, to find this motherland that his other self talked about but with Erwin suggesting this, if Gemini ever found out, he’d know that Eren isn’t behind this. They’ll get to Wall Maria during the next expedition, find this laboratory, and once they’re inside, Eren can find Zeke. He can find and save his brother.

* * *

When the meeting ended, Eren followed Levi out of Erwin's office and back to his room, where Levi asked him to wait whilst he went to collect the rest of his squad. Eren felt nervous. The last person he'd talked about his past was with Ymir and whilst she'd accepted him wholeheartedly, it didn't mean Levi's squad will. For all, he knows they'll consider that he's the enemy because he can turn into a titan and unlike the others, they might believe he's faking his memory loss. They didn't know him when he was found. Eren kept his eyes trained on the floor when he heard his quarters' door open, the shuffling to footsteps as they entered his room before they shut the door behind the last one.

"Everyone present here saw Eren encased in the titan's nape. Now I've been allowed to tell you the rest we didn't tell you about Eren's unique situation," Levi said, and Eren's clenched his fists. They saw him attached to the titan. They probably already believe that he's an actual monster, "The Scouting Regiment first met Eren when he was roughly nine or ten it was when Shadis was still the commander. He first stumbled across Eren in the hand of a titan, six months before the fall of Wall Maria. Shadis found Eren outside the Walls, which should be impossible because no one can get outside the walls, let alone a kid. Shadis brought Hange, Erwin, Mike and me to the location he found Eren,".

"Eren doesn't have any memories about his life before we found him. All he knew was his name, and when we brought him back into the walls, we couldn't find any parents missing a child of his description, so Eren ended up being adopted by Carla Morgan who lived in Shiganshina. Six months later, the wall fell, and Carla died, like the other refugees Eren worked in the fields until he was old enough to enlist in the military," Levi continued explaining. Still, Eren made it his mission to keep his eyes on the floor; he didn't want to see their expressions when they heard all of this.

"During the Battle of Trost after we believed Eren had died when he saved a cadet and was eaten by a titan. He somehow turned himself into one. Hange and Erwin suspect that something happened to Eren outside the Walls, some experiment which gave Eren this titan shifting power. Of course, we can't confirm anything until we find this laboratory outside Maria. At the end of this week, our squad is being sent to our old headquarters where Eren will learn to use and control this titan ability before going on another expedition in a month," Levi explained.

"I understand if you don't want to work with me anymore, there isn't any training on how to deal with a titan shifter. You have no reason to trust me; we don't know each other. All I ask is if you decide you don't want to work with me. Please keep my shifting abilities a secret until Commander Erwin decides it's time to reveal them to the rest of humanity," Eren said, they had the right to choose whether they wanted to be around him.

"You don't know anything Brat" Oluo laughed, and for the first time since the other squad members entered his quarters, Eren looked up at them. Eld, Petra and Gunther had small smiles on their faces whilst Oluo scoffed.

"Eren, you've already been through plenty in your life, and you're only fifteen. You're a part of the squad now Eren. We'll stand by your side no matter what," Petra said, sitting next to Eren wrapping her arms around him, "We've got your back no matter what,".

* * *

Mikasa spent the next three days up to her arms in dead bodies as she and the rest of the 104th were enlisted to clear Trost. She’d spent three days picking up and carrying the deceased and, in those days, she’d been pondering how to tell everyone. No one had yet stumbled across Eren’s body, or at least no one from the 104th had. And she still hadn’t enough courage to tell anyone, not even Armin who she tells everything to. Every time she tries, her throat closes like it’s forbidding her from saying those two words.

However, did it matter anymore? After Trost had finally been cleared and the dead burnt. They’d been encouraged to sign up to their chosen regiment. Probably because they needed the soldiers after losing so many during the battle. Mikasa, along with Armin, Ymir, Sasha, Connie, Mina, Christa, Reiner and Bertholdt chose the Scouting Regiment. Nac, Daz and Mylius all agreed that they never wanted to see a titan after what happened to Thomas and joined the Garrisons whilst Annie, Jean and Marco all followed through with their original choices and went with the Military Police. She couldn’t blame anyone for choosing another regiment after the battle. Many suffered from constant nightmares because of the titans. She suffered from nightmares of Eren’s death, repeatedly watching him push her out of the titan’s mouth before it swallowed him whole.

“Hey Mikasa, some scouting regiment soldier is looking for you,” Connie said, shaking her shoulder. Mikasa looked at him silently, asking who and where. Connie pointed over to a tall man with bangs of his blond hair, a dark moustache and beard.

“Mikasa Ackerman?” the soldier asked as Mikasa approached him. She nodded her head, “I’m Squad Leader Mike Zacharias, I need to speak with you privately about… Eren Yeager,”.

* * *

After the recent complications in their mission, Gemini called a meeting before Marco and Annie went to the interior. They need to discuss their next plan and how they’ll deal with the recent problem. With Trost sealed it means that they can’t lure the founding titan out by forcing Sina to become humanity’s last defence. If they attack again so soon, Commander Erwin may become suspicious that other shifters are inside the walls. That is something they need to avoid. However, he didn’t blame the others from preventing the wall from being sealed. With the sudden return of the scouting regiment days before they were due back and humanity’s strongest among them, he couldn’t risk his other warriors being killed because Captain Levi is stronger than all of them combined.

“I’m glad you could all make it; we don’t have long until someone gets suspicious. With the breach mission a failure, I’ve decided that we need to deal with a threat before returning to our original mission in capturing the founding titan. If the scouting regiment discovers more about Yeager’s shifting abilities, we may risk the rest of us is revealed. We need to deal with this threat immediately,” Gemini said when the other warriors turned up.

“Wait, are you saying…” Marco said before trailing off sharing a look with the others. Reiner and Bertholdt look just a shocked whilst Annie’s face remained blank.

“Yes,” Gemini said, nodding his head, “We need to kill Eren Yeager”.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the hell! How are we on chapter 20 already like whaaattt!!!! I honestly can't believe we've gotten this far in the story already! Thank you to everyone who has supported this story since whatever chapter you joined, it really means a lot to me to know you like my weird idea of a story so far. I hope I can keep on surprising you!

The following week went by at a snail’s pace, Eren wasn’t sure why they hadn’t left for the old scouting regiment headquarters yet something to do with collecting supplies and Hange not being ready. So, all Eren was subjected to do was clean with the rest of Levi’s squad or train. Although Eld and Petra had commented many times how Eren had never been called back to re-clean any of the rooms they had put him in charge of cleaning. Long story short, everyone in Levi’s squad believes that Eren is a clean freak which was just laughable because Eren was far from that. During his training, it was Christa or Reiner dragging him to the showers because he severely stank. Eld and Petra along with Oluo and Gunther seem to keep forgetting that Eren had grown up around Levi for a period of his life where he’d been forced to clean daily and just happened to pick up and later remember Levi’s intense cleaning methods. It has been an inside joke in the boy’s barracks how Eren could easily forget about his hygiene. Yet when Shadis forced them to clean up their sleeping quarters because over the many months it had slowly turned into a pigsty, Eren could quickly clean the whole barracks from top to bottom and make the floor shine. Eren had been around Levi a lot during his childhood that something became ingrained into him like cleaning or using the ODM gear.

Which was what he’s doing right now, cleaning the yard waiting for the recruits to arrive. Whilst Levi and the others packed the wagon readying them to leave later that day whilst Hange finally told Moblit about Eren’s past and ability to transform into a titan, something that Eren was still struggling to process himself? No matter how much he didn’t want to believe it, there was so much evidence supporting it that Eren couldn’t deny it. In his memory, he’d turned his mother and father into titans. His arm had somehow grown back after Eren could clearly remember it being bitten off and there was the fact they had found him in a titan’s nape connected to it. After being told that, there was no denying it. He could turn into a titan, and now Moblit is going to find out. Hange insisted that they would tell Moblit alone something which Eren was grateful for, whilst telling Levi’s squad had scared Eren, telling Moblit it was something he couldn’t do. He’d know Moblit since he was nine, Shadis actively encouraged Eren to keep his memory loss a secret from everyone who didn’t know his original circumstances which included Moblit. All this time Moblit believed that Eren’s parents had been a part of the Scouting Regiment and died outside the walls and now, he’s going to learn the truth. Eren could only hope that Hange can convince Moblit that Eren’s on their side and that he genuinely didn’t know about his titan shifting ability until he shifted for the first time.

“Eren!” someone shouted drawing the other boy from his thoughts, Eren looked up to find his friends, Armin, Ymir, Reiner, Bertholdt, Connie, Sasha, Mina, Christa and Mikasa standing there. He couldn’t believe it; he was so sure that Reiner, Bertholdt and Connie wanted to join the Military Police, Reiner and Connie had both raved about joining since they’d met on the wagon which took them to the training corps. What were they doing here? Did they have a change of mind?

“Guys! I can’t believe you’re all here! Connie, Reiner, Bertholdt you wanted to join the MPs, what changed your mind?” Eren said, resting the broom he’s holding against the wall before running over to his friends.

“He feels like he owes you since you saved his butt in the supply base,” Ymir said, jabbing Connie in the ribs with her elbow.

“W-what! No! I decided myself; it’s better to use my genius abilities to help humanity then squaller my talent with the MPs,” Connie said, pushing Ymir away from him.

“I’m sure the Scouting Regiment will be happy to have your skills, Connie,” Eren laughed, “Did Annie, Marco and Jean join the scouting regiment like they originally decided?”.

“Yeah, Marco said he wanted to follow his dreams, and you know Jean, he’ll blindly follow Marco wherever he goes,” Reiner said, his arm tightly wrapped around Bertholdt’s waist. Eren resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It takes one to know one. Reiner would follow Bertholdt wherever the taller recruit would go. The couple being inseparable during their training, always by each other’s side just like Jean was with Marco. Eren was honestly surprised that Jean hadn’t proposed outright to Marco yet considering whenever Marco said anything Jean looked like he wanted to get down on one knee and propose then and there.

“And you know me Eren, I can’t be separated from my soulmate for long,” Ymir grinned, throwing her arms around Eren’s neck.

“I thought Christa was your soulmate,” Eren asked, raising an eyebrow at his best friend before looking over at said best friend’s girlfriend.

“Christa is my romantic soulmate, you’re my platonic soulmate,” Ymir said as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world. Ymir let go of Eren wrapping her arms around Christa instead, “What’s going on here, anyway? We passed that guy you were with during Trost with some others loading a wagon of supplies?”.

“Oh, that’s Captain Levi. My squad is leaving with Hange and Moblit with some experimental equipment. Hange thinks they can use it to seal Wall Maria. All going to plan, Commander Erwin is hoping to head to Shiganshina in a month time so, my squad is to assist with the developments” Eren lied. Like with his memories, Erwin had forbidden him from telling his friend about what had happened. The only person privy to that information is Mikasa because she had seen him die. Erwin couldn’t figure out a good enough excuse to explain how Eren survived or why the arm she saw bitten off had suddenly regrown. They had no choice but to tell her, especially considering Mikasa had joined the scouting regiment. Had she entered the garrisons, then they may have gotten away with it. If only she’d open her mouth and told his friends about his death, then Eren wouldn’t have to keep another secret from them. He didn’t want to lie to them anymore. 

“You’re leaving us!” Reiner pouted, which made Eren laugh.

“Us elites have work to do unlike you, rookies” Eren teased, he’d missed this. It felt like months had passed since he’d last got to mess around with his friends, even though it had only been over a week since Eren himself officially joined the Scouting Regiment if you excluded the first time he was with this regiment.

“Wow Eren, you’re already considered an elite” Armin said smiling, and Eren shrugged. Being an elite was just a general term for any soldier who can make it back alive from more than one expedition. Well, that and having the skill to kill a titan which Eren proved back when he was a cadet.

“Oi Eren, we are leaving get your shit on the wagon” Levi shouted, Eren turned his back to his friends to see Petra, Oluo and Gunther had brought the horses over whilst Eld was securing the last items on the wagon. However, there was still no sign of Hange and Moblit.

“Okay Captain, I’ll be right over,” Eren shouted back before turning back to his friends, “I’ve got to go, I’ll see you later. Ymir try not to piss anyone off, Reiner keep your hands to yourself and Sasha try not to eat everything,”.

* * *

Moblit didn't know what to think, Erwin told him that he, Hange and Levi's squad would travel to the scouting regiment's old headquarters built further into Wall Rose when the regiment was established. He wasn't told why - only that Hange would explain everything to him. That had been a week ago, and Hange had still yet to tell him anything. Instead, they tiredly worked through the night deciding on what equipment they wanted to bring with them. He could tell Hange was actively keeping it from him, changing the subject whenever he asked brought up the trip. Which was wrong because the Hange he knew and loved was incapable of keeping anything from him. So, whatever they were hiding, it had to be serious.

"Moblit darling, everyone's ready to leave, have you got everything?" Hange said, pushing open the door to the quarters they and Moblit shared. Moblit is sitting on the edge of their bed with a small bag beside his feet.

"Not until you tell me why we're leaving and what it has to do with Eren," Moblit said. He refused to leave this room until he got his answers and if that meant sitting here for the next hour, then he would.

"How did you know it has something to do with Eren?" Hange asked as they sat down beside Moblit on the bed.

"I'm not stupid Hange, I know how much that kid means to you and every time you've seen him this week you get this painful and distant look in your eyes, the same look you get every time I ask you about this trip," Moblit explains and Hange's sighs.

"We've been lying to you about Eren ever since we found him," Hange said, they weren't sure how they could explain something like this to Moblit, that the last five and a half years had been built on lies, "Please let me explain before you ask anything. Eren isn't the orphan child of two members of the scouting regiment who died outside the walls that's where we found him or Shadis did. In a titan's grasp about to be killed, Shadis saved him, and after consulting Levi, Erwin, Mike, and myself, we decided it was best to smuggle Eren back inside the walls. Had it been an adult, they would have been arrested for daring to leave the walls, but this was a child, and Shadis was worried of the backlash if anyone found out we somehow took a child outside the walls. But that wasn't it, Eren didn't and still doesn't have any memories of his life before we found him. Shadis created the cover story and, as you know, Eren stayed with us for a few months before moving to Shiganshina,".

Hange took in a deep breath as they prepared themselves mentally to tell Moblit the next part, "Except that isn't it, during the Battle of Trost Eren died, he saved Mikasa Ackerman's life and a titan killed him or so we believed. There was this titan, you can ask Levi and Erwin they saw it too, but this titan only attacked its kind and ignored humans. Long story short, we used this titan to carry the boulder and sealed the breach. The titan collapsed; I think from over-exerting itself, but we found Eren encased inside its nape. Erwin believes that Eren was experimented on outside the walls. The reason we're going to our old headquarters is so we can test Eren's titan shifting ability. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier, I guess I wasn't sure how to explain it. I hate hiding something like this from you Moblit, you mean everything to me, but Eren's like a little brother I'd never had, and I guess… I just wanted to protect him,".

Moblit stayed quiet for a while, taking everything Hange said in, Eren, their Eren could turn into a titan. It hardly sounded possible yet, taking one look at Hange's face told him they were serious, "Okay, I believe you. It's hard to get your head around but, I know you wouldn't lie about something like this, maybe exaggerate a little but never lie".

"Moblit! You sound like Levi; I don't exaggerate about anything!" Hange said pouting, but Moblit laughed, leaning forward and pressed his lips to Hange's own.

"I love you," Moblit said when he pulled away, Hange's cheeks flushed red.

"I love you too" they replied, giving Moblit another kiss before jumping up from the bed, "Now, off we go! So many experiments to do in the next month!".

Moblit smiled as he stood up, grabbing his bag from the floor and followed Hange out of their room, firmly shutting the door behind him. They walked into the courtyard to see Levi and Eren sat on their horses surrounded by Levi's squad; it was hard to believe that this kid somehow had the power to turn into a titan. Moblit knew that he'd needed to see it for himself before he fully believed it. Moblit rolled his eyes as Hange ran over to Eren. They were climbing onto the horse beside him spouting about all the experiments they wanted to do when they arrived at the headquarters. Levi turned around and outright said that Hange wouldn't be getting any of the experiments done until they helped clean the old headquarters from top to bottom.

"Vice-Captain Berner, you have a letter," Nifa said, running over to Moblit with a small white envelope in her hand. Moblit frowned, he wasn't expecting anything from his family as he'd already sent them a letter saying how he's okay and that he'll come to visit them when Hange let him have the day off, which was rare.

"Thank you Nifa," he said as he took the letter opening it up.

_Moblit,_

_I know you're busy, but we need you home now. It's urgent._

_Mum_

Moblit frowned, his mother never mentioned family emergencies because usually, Moblit couldn't have time off. However, his hometown was only an hour away from where their old headquarters is; he could quickly pop in to see what's going on before meeting up with the others after he'd finished.

"Something wrong?" Hange asked, trotting their horse over to Moblit.

"Some family emergency, my hometown only an hour away from HQ. You think I could quickly visit on our way past?" Moblit asked, and Hange nodded their head.

"Sure, do you need me to come with?" they said, but Moblit shook his head.

"I'm sure it's nothing bad. Focus on Eren. I'll be fine,". 

* * *

The old headquarters was nothing Eren could have ever imagined. It looked like a castle, an abandoned one but still a castle filled with nothing but cobwebs and dust. Eren could already see what he'd be doing for the next week, and from the grimacing looks on Petra, Oluo, Eld and Gunther's face, they also had the same thoughts. Levi quickly dispatched them with the cleaning supplies he'd brought along, ordering them to clean their quarters first before starting on any other rooms in the castle. Eren half expected Levi to turn around and tell him he'll be sleeping in the basement. However, Levi told him to choose a room and get moving. Even Hange fled before Levi could continue to boss them around, grabbing a small supply of cleaning supplies and some of their equipment for the titan experiments and disappeared inside.

Eren decided that it would be safer if he chose a room at the back of the castle. To put everyone minds at ease that if something happens during the night, everyone else would be safe or it's Eren's plan until Hange took the room beside him and Levi the room opposite him. Eren quickly cleaned his room before deciding to help Hange, knowing full well that the scientist would mainly focus on preparing for their experiments unless Levi stood outside their room to observe them cleaning. Whilst Hange concentrates on unpacking, Eren went around the room sweeping all the dust onto the floor, cleaning the table, chairs, and dresser before mopping the floor of the left-over dust. Next Eren focused on the basement, knowing that Hange wanted to use it for some experiments and Levi wouldn't be seen dead in there until someone had cleaned it from top to bottom. Eren carefully carted down his cleaning supplies, freezing dead on the bottom step when he realised just how big the basement is. Eren knew he had his work cut out for him and looking down at the broom, dustpan and brush, dusters, and cleaning liquids, he knew that he didn't have enough supplies to tackle the entire basement.

Eren quickly cleaned the small table which was pushed up against the one wall opposite the bed before placing his supplies onto the table and ran back up the stairs to get more dusters and cloths which he could use to clean the entire basement. That is before Hange could come down with countless bags of equipment for whatever titan experiments they planned to do in the next month. However, Eren didn't make it far when suddenly a hand reached out of a room to Eren's left grabbing his arm yanking him so suddenly that Eren stumbled over his feet and nearly fell to the floor if the person who pulled him hadn't help steady him. To Eren's surprise, it was Oluo.

"Um… Oluo, have I done something wrong?" Eren said, trying to remember whether he had done anything to upset or offend his fellow soldier, but Eren drew a blank. The only thing Eren could think of was on the journey there Oluo was trying to impersonate Levi but ended up biting his tongue, which seemed to be Oluo's speciality and nothing Eren directly caused.

"Now, listen to me, brat. I'm going to say this only once and if you dare repeat what I say to the others then your dead meat. You understand," Oluo said, and Eren nodded his head, unsure whether he should feel worried. Oluo took a step back, putting some distance between them and his cheeks slowly turning light pink, "Listen, kid, it's about the expedition. I should probably say thanks, you know, for saving my life. I'd probably be dead if you hadn't killed that titan. So, thanks,".

Eren stared at Oluo; he'd been dragged into this room so Oluo could say thank you for something that had happened over a week ago, "N-no problem. What are comrades for?".

His answer seemed to please Oluo. Who then opened the door and walked out, leaving Eren behind to slide down the wall until his ass touched the floor. Eren couldn't help but wonder what Oluo may have said if he'd knew just who that titan was to Eren.

* * *

After splitting from the others, Moblit pushed his horse to go faster, the feeling of dread slowly filling his stomach the closer he got to his hometown of the Karanes District. Had it been some typical family emergency, his mother wouldn’t have sent that letter. Had it been something mundane and easily fixable problem, then his mother would’ve kept it quiet until Moblit came to visit had it been significant. His mother wouldn’t ask him to come home unless something happened, something terrible. Leaving his horse with the Garrison soldiers stationed at the inner gate, Moblit raced down the streets darting past people nearly running into one or two of them until he reached his childhood home. Nothing was out of place but that only put Moblit on edge, the windows are pulled shut, there was a small dent in the door as if someone had shoved something sharp into it and he could hear crying, wailing coming from inside.

Moblit pushed the door open, his mother sat at the table tears streaming down her face as her shoulders shook uncontrollably, his father leant against the kitchen counter his face blank, but his eyes were red from crying, and there was no sign of his ten-year-old sister Heidi. Moblit felt sick; he could feel it in his heart. Something had happened to his sister.

“Ma, Pa, what’s going on? Where’s Heidi?” Moblit asked, scared of the answer. His mother wailed; his father stayed silent as he moved to the table, sliding a white letter across the table with a blood-covered bracelet attached. Moblit’s heart sank as he picked the letter and bracelet up. He’d recognise it anywhere; it’s the bracelet Moblit bought his sister from Stohess Distract on the rare chance he went to Wall Sina, it’s been his present for her seventh birthday, she loved it so much the only time she’d take it off was when she had a bath. Moblit opened the letter, dreading what he’d find.

_Moblit Berner,_

_If you want to see your sister ever again, come to the area circled on the enclosed map. If you contact your regiment or the Military Police, I will know, and your sister will die. My men are watching your every move, come alone and if you want to save the girl’s life._

_Kenny the Ripper_

Moblit dropped the note. It wasn’t possible. Kenny the Ripper was a myth, someone who only went after the Military Police in the capital why the hell would he have his sister. Moblit didn’t have a choice. If he wanted to save his sister, he must meet this Kenny person, no matter how much his instincts screamed for him to get help, to get Levi who may have a chance against a serial killer like Kenny. Still, if he’s being watched, his sister’s dead the second, he reaches the old scouting regiment base. He couldn’t let that happen; he refused to let that happen. Moblit picked up the map; it’s an abandoned church a few miles south of his hometown.

“Don’t worry Ma, I’m gonna get Heidi, I promise” Moblit whispered before kissing his mother’s forehead, picking up the letter and bracelet just in case he needed it. Moblit walked out his childhood home returning to his horse, mounting it, Moblit pulled on the reins and galloped at full speed towards the abandoned church.

* * *

Moblit pushed the church door open. It’s quiet, too quiet. Part of Moblit wondered whether he had the place wrong, but this was the only church in a hundred miles of his hometown. However, that soon changed when he saw the unconscious body of his ten-year-old sister, her arms and legs bound and her mouth gagged. The only reassurance Moblit had that this sister is still alive was the small yet steady rise and fall of her chest.

“So good of you to make it,” an unfamiliar voice said, stepping out of the shadows a tall man with dark hair, wearing a black trench coat and bowler hat. In his left hand, the man carried a blood-stained knife.

“Who are you, and what do you want with me?” Moblit said, his voice shaking with fear as the man stepped toward him standing between Moblit and his sister.

“My associates don’t care about you. However, there may be something or someone in your care that may be of interest, and if you want your sister back, you’re going to get it for me,” the man said, “Of course, you can’t tell anyone about this, or you’ll be getting your sister back in pieces,”.

“Okay! I’ll do anything. What do you want?” Moblit said, he wasn’t equipped for this, he’s a scientist, a soldier, he fights titans not humans, but that’s probably why this man choose him, he wouldn’t fight back, and they have leverage over him. Whatever this man wanted, it was something only the scouting regiment had.

“My associates told me that during the breach of Trost, there were reports of soldiers seeing a strange titan, it saved humans and killed other titans. Now tell me, was there a human inside its nape” the man said, and Moblit felt his body tense, Hange had said only a select few people knew about Eren’s shifting ability. Could they have a traitor among them, or did someone else see Eren being pulled from the titan’s nape by Levi? Unless there’s someone else inside the Walls, who knew about this shifting ability?

“I’ll take that silence as a yes, now Berner, tell me the name of this titan shifter and their location or I’ll cut your sister’s throat and force you to watch her bleed out,” the man said as he yanked Heidi up and put the knife to her neck, “your times running out!”.

“Eren… Eren Yeager” Moblit said, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Good, now, where is he?” the man said, pressing the knife into Heidi’s neck, Moblit watched helplessly as a trickle of blood escaped the wound and ran down her neck.

“I don’t know,” Moblit lied. He couldn’t give this man Eren’s location because that be leading them straight to Hange. It would kill him if Hange came to any harm, “Eren left with Captain Levi and his squad earlier today. Whilst my squad, squad four were assigned to create a piece of portable equipment which could seal Wall Maria; we won’t return until the end of the month then we’re going straight out on an expedition. And if I try to get Eren’s location, that will make Commander Erwin suspicious,”.

The man glared at him, but he dropped Heidi stepping over her body like she’s nothing. He walked over to Moblit grabbing his neck and lifted him off the floor, “When you return from your expedition, you’ll separate Eren from the others and hand him over to us, then and only then will you get your sister back. Understood”.

“Y-yes,” Moblit said, and the man smiled, dropping Moblit to the floor.

“Tick-tock, your time has begun,” the man said, pushing Moblit to the door. Whilst a masked man who Moblit hadn’t noticed before slung Heidi over their shoulder and carted her out a different exit, “Oh and Moblit, remember you tell anyone about this, and your sister is done for”.

* * *

The experiments didn't start for at least a week. First, only Hange tested his regenerative ability, made minor injuries, and timing how long it took until they healed. Any bigger injuries like losing a limb had been strictly prohibited which Eren couldn't help but feel a little relieved, he didn't want to watch his arm or leg slowly grow back nor did he want to experience the pain which came with losing said arm or leg. He'd already experienced that, and Eren didn't want to experience it again.

Once Hange determined they had enough data from these types of small experiments. They moved onto more significant experiments whether the sunlight had any effect on his human body or if it's something only titans experienced. This experiment resulted in Eren staying in the dungeon for a whole week with only Levi and Hange for company. The rest of Levi's squad continued cleaning the base whilst Moblit wrote up their experiment notes and sent them to Erwin via Eld or Gunther. Speaking of Moblit, he'd been acting weird all week after returning from his hometown, but according to Hange, his mother is badly ill and that it worried the family they were going to lose her.

Halfway into the third week, Erwin finally gave them the go-ahead to let Eren try to transform into his titan form, or at least give them time to figure out how Eren turned into a titan before going on the expedition. Eren's memory couldn't help them because he didn't remember being a titan the last time, let alone how he turned into one. So, here he stood on the grounds outside the castle with a sizable distance between him and everyone else because Eren outright refused to shift with Levi, Hange and his squad anywhere near him. Still, even with the sizable distance, Eren hadn't shifted. He couldn't; he had no idea how to. He tried willing himself to turn or picturing himself in his titan form, but nothing happened.

"Eren, if you can't shift, we can call it quits for tonight and try again tomorrow" Hange shouted, but Eren didn't want to quit just yet, he wanted to succeed dammit. It'd already done this once before; he's going to do it again. Eren closed his eyes, trying to picture himself inside that titan's stomach, trying to will his memory to remember what happened, but instead, he saw something else. A younger version of him stood in a field with Zeke. It felt like someone else was watching, but whoever they were, Eren couldn't see them.

_"Right, the lesson of today is shifting!" Zeke said holding a knife out to Eren who took it, "Of course, we all have our preference on how we activate the shift but for now just use the knife. You remember what our teachers say about shifting?"._

_"I have to injure myself whilst having a goal in mind," Eren said, and Zeke nodded his head._

_"Right, I'll shift first Eren to show you how it's done then I want you to do it," Zeke said jogging away from Eren before turning back around to face him. Zeke grinned, bringing his knife up to his hand and in a quick downward motion, Zeke sliced his hand. A bright golden electric light surrounded his brother's body, so bright that Eren had to shield his eyes. When the light vanished, Eren looked to the spot where his brother had previously stood. But in his place is a titan, a 17-metre one with dark fur coving most of its body with pointed ears and teeth. The titan crouched down, looking at Eren, "Okay Eren, it's your turn now"._

_He didn't react to the sound of his brother's voice coming out of the large titan. Instead, he lifted the knife to his hand and just like Zeke, Eren brought it down, cutting his hand. The same golden light surrounded Eren's body as he felt himself getting lifted into the air whilst his titan forms around his body until his human form is safety tucked away inside his nape._

_"Well done, Eren, I knew you could do it," Zeke congratulated his brother as he stood to his feet, "Now the hardest part, getting out your titans form,"._

The memory cut off leaving Eren to stare at his hands, he'd said that he needed to injure himself and that didn't require a knife. Without a second thought, Eren lifted his hand to his mouth and bit down hard, piercing his flesh with his teeth and just like his memory, the golden light sparked around him. He did it; he actually did it! Eren wanted to shout about his triumph as he watched his gigantic form materialise out of nowhere. It didn't feel weird at all; it felt right. Like he's woken up from a long sleep. It felt natural returning to his titan form. 

"You did it Eren" Hange screamed, running over to him as fast as their smaller legs could carry them. He couldn't believe it; he can shift into a titan which means he'll be useful in their upcoming mission, they will get to Wall Maria and find the laboratory that held his brother hostage. Eren will use the powers the motherland gave him to destroy them once and for all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've only just realised that I've got nine more chapters planned out with the rest of the story roughly drafted, I should probably finish planning the rest of my story whoops!


	21. Chapter 21

Of course, the problem with being a titan shifter learning how to use said titan form was that whilst he's inside the walls. Eren couldn't shift as often as he might have wanted to without the risk of alerting any travellers to the rumbling of his large footsteps and send the whole of Wall Rose into a panicking frenzy when they believe the walls are breached. So, after Eren's first successful transformation, he hadn't been allowed to shift again.

The month is nearly up, and by tomorrow they'll force to pack up everything and return to HQ to prepare for next week's expedition. Which Erwin is announcing tonight, to most of the scouting regiment their mission is to return to Shiganshina to survey the damage to the wall and work out a solution to seal it. However, those who are in the know like Eren, this expedition is a cover for Levi's squad with Moblit and Hange to go beyond the wall to the forest they found Eren and search for a makeshift laboratory which turned Eren into a titan shifter. There, Erwin hopes to unlock Eren's missing memories and find out what's been happening right underneath humanity's noses.

However, Eren can't help but think that it won't be that simple. From the little he can remember; he feels like the motherland is something separate to the Walls. Erwin has speculated that this mission will be successful on the grounds that this laboratory they're searching for was deserted during the fall of Wall Maria but for some reason that doesn't sit right with Eren, why would the motherland abandon their headquarters, they're dealing with titans so they must have a good grasp on how to protect themselves from the titans or else they wouldn't leave the wall. Still, it wasn't like Eren could air his concerns to Levi, Erwin and Hange because that will draw suspicion on him. Hange always asks whether Eren gained any more memories. Each time he says no, he couldn't risk telling them anything about his family and certainly not about the motherland after the warning from his other-self. He may be the last piece to crack the mystery surrounding the Titans, but if this Gemini person is out there, he can't risk telling Levi or Hange anything about his past. He can't risk Zeke.

"Eren!" a familiar voice said, pulling Eren out of his thoughts. After the last experiment, Levi sent him to get something to eat whilst Hange and Moblit cleared up. They must have only just finished as Hange dropped onto the bench opposite Eren, "I've been thinking, and I'm wondering if the memories you get back are connected to a particular situation, you're in like they trigger them. I want to write every memory you have and if you can remember what situation you were in which trigger it."

"Um… okay. The first memory I got back was going somewhere with my brother, it's about inheriting a power and that my parents are traitors. During training, I think it was on the first day or around that first week at least, I can't remember exactly, but I think I was talking with Connie, Marco, and Thomas about the fall and what it was like to see a titan. The next one happened in a dream so I can't be sure whether this is a real memory or just my imagination, but I was with my brother again. We talked about my parents, but it didn't tell me much about them; only their names are Dina and Grisha Yeager. The last memory happened outside the walls when I killed my third titan. Again I was with Zeke; however, some other men were following us home. We lead them to our parents, and these men took them. I-I don't remember anything else" Eren said lying at the end, he couldn't tell them, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't tell them that he watched as humans were turned into titans, how he turned his parents into titans. He couldn't tell them this ability he has; his brother is the one who taught him how to use it, that his brother could turn into a titan too. Everything that would be useful to the scouting regiment, he's forbidden from telling them even here where it should be safe, he couldn't risk saying anything if Gemini's followed him here.

"So, it seems more random than anything, the situation you're in doesn't trigger your memories" Hange mutter mostly to themselves as they looked down at the notes they made, "Oh, that reminds me, I never asked you how you figured out shifting. You were standing there for a while before you seemed to remember what you needed to do? I was so overcome with you turning into a titan and writing a letter to Erwin that I forgot to ask how you did it" Hange asked as they turned to a clean page in their notebook to write whatever Eren said.

"It was weird for a while I tried picturing myself in the titan form as if I could turn just by will, but it didn't work. Then I heard this voice in the back of my mind whispering to me, telling me how to do it. I need to injure myself and have a goal in my mind when I transform" Eren lied again, keeping these secrets from the people he trusted the most makes him feel sick. What would happen if they found out he's been keeping more secrets; would they believe he doesn't trust them, or he was purposefully making it difficult for them to understand what happened to him outside the walls. Eren isn't doing this on purpose. He genuinely had a reason for keeping everything close to his chest. His memories show him being close with his older brother; he sees how they care for each other that he desperately wants that back. He wants to be reunited with his brother. He wants what's left of his family back and whilst he considers Hange, Moblit, Erwin, Levi, the members of Levi Squad and the friends he made in the training corps as his newfound family it doesn't stop his yearning for the family he's lost. So, until Eren figures out who this Gemini person is, he must keep things from them, to protect them.

"To activate your titan shifting ability, you need a physical stimulus, that's interesting. Did anything else happen?" Hange asked, and Eren shook his head. He didn't have any more memories unlocked when he in his titan form, nor did he see Ymir Fritz like he had the last time. He carried out what Hange ordered him to do before Levi helped cut him from his titan form when Eren struggled to free himself.

"No, everything happened as you saw it," Eren said.

"Huh, I supposed we'll just have to hope more of your memories come back to you" Hange sighed slumping in their chair.  
"I'm sorry Hange, I wish I could be more help" Eren apologised, he wished he could remember everything about his past then maybe he could drop subtle hints. Eren could only hope that once the scouting regiment discovers this motherland place, then he can finally come clean about everything he's been hiding and maybe they'll understand why he had to keep quiet.

"You want to do more? Eren, you've already been a massive help from the small things you did for us when you were younger to saving Trost in your titan form. Without you Eren we would've been forced to surrender Trost to the titans. Honestly, we should pay you for back for everything you've done" Hange said, and Eren felt his cheeks flush from the compliment. Maybe everything will be fine, after all. 

* * *

Eren was practically bouncing off the walls as they packed up their equipment and made their way back to the scouting regiment headquarters. He had seen none of his friends in a month, and he could wait to spend the next few days together. Tonight, Erwin is going over the plans for their next expedition to venture to Wall Maria, but until then he had the entire day to spend with Ymir, Christa, Reiner and Bertholdt. Whilst he couldn’t tell them what he’s been up to. He’s still excited to find out how they’ve been during their first month with the scouting regiment that Eren had been up at the crack of dawn running around the castle collecting the remaining boxes before packing them onto the wagon whilst Petra, Eld, Moblit and Gunther readied the horses to head back.

He could barely contain himself from encouraging his horse into a gallop and sprinting all the way back. Levi was a bit reluctant, giving Eren the afternoon off. Which meant the second they reached the scouting regiment’s current headquarters Eren is free to do whatever he wants to do which means he’s going to find and harass his friends for the next few days until he’s forced back on his horse and they head outside the walls again. He’s been outside the walls; his friends haven’t and Eren wants to make sure they are more than prepared for their first expedition. He honestly felt like this overprotective parent who won’t let their child go outside in winter without being wrapped up in dozen layers before they can step outside the house. So, he’s basically Jean’s mother of his group of friends, and because he’s the mom of the group, he’s not letting any of his friends leave the walls without making sure they are 100% ready for it. He needs them to be prepared; he can’t lose them to the titans. They’ve survived the battle of Trost, so Eren must get them through their first expedition too.

Eren jumped off his horse, handing his horse over to the squad on stable duty before running to the mess hall where he knew he’d at least find Sasha and hopefully the rest of his friends will be with her.

“Ymir! Reiner! Christa! Bertholdt!” Eren shouted when he saw his friends crowded around one table in the mess hall, “Mina, Armin, Connie, Sasha, you all here too”.

“I’m sorry, do we know you?” Ymir teased when Eren sat down beside her. She looked him up and down like she’s seeing him for the first time.

“Ymir, you’re mean!” Eren pouted, sticking his bottom lip out as far as it would go, which only made his friends laugh.

“You just got back?” Armin asked, and Eren nodded his head.

“You didn’t run away from the scouting regiment again Eren” Reiner teased obviously hinting to the time Eren let his emotions get the better of him, and he rode back to the walls with a half tank full of gas when he learnt the walls might be breached and his friends were in danger. Eren shot a semi-heated glare at Reiner whose grin only widened, as expected for that idiot; he’s wrapped around Bertholdt that Eren honestly surprised that Bertl wasn’t on Reiner’s lap.

“No, actually I spent the entire time talking with Captain Levi and Petra until we arrived here,” Eren said, poking his tongue out of this friend.

“Oooh Captain Levi huh,” Ymir said, waggling her eyebrows.

“Shut up” Eren felt his cheeks heating up that he had to cover his face, his heart pounding in his chest. Eren knew that he’s slowly falling in love with Levi, how couldn’t you. Levi’s amazing and talented and… he couldn’t help himself but fall for the man. He’s always been there for Eren whenever he needed him, he’s helped him as a kid, and now he’s helping him with the mess that his life has slowly become with his missing memories and now his titan shifting ability. But it didn’t matter, Eren’s not worth Levi’s attention let along with his love, and he’s okay with that. He can enjoy being in Levi’s presences.

“Aww look at him, Eren’s in love.” Reiner teased, “Look at him Bertl; he’ll be like us soon enough.”

Bertholdt blushed as Reiner started kissing his boyfriend’s cheeks. Eren rolled his eyes as he said. “What, embarrassing and constantly making out.”

Reiner poked his tongue out at him but didn’t retaliate.

“What’ve you guys being doing in the last month?” Eren asked, trying to push the apparent issues with his love life out of his mind and instead focusing on what he’s missed during the last month.

“Training mostly, Commander Erwin announced that in a couple of days we’re going outside the walls. During the last month, they want us recruits to remember the formation off by heart before we leave the walls” Armin explained.

“Ah, you’re first expedition. How are you all feeling about that?” Eren asked, his eyes slowly going from one friend to another, taking in their facial expressions.

“Nervous and worried, we all experienced the hell which was Trost and whilst we signed up to go on expeditions outside the walls. The fact we’ll be leaving the walls in a matter of days is scary for some of us,” Mina said, “You got any advice?”.

Eren stayed quiet for a moment, mulling over what he could say without scaring them, “The formation designed to miss the titans. So you’ll probably won’t see many during the expedition, and if you do, there will be elite soldiers near you, so they’ll be the ones to step in and take any titans down. For your first expedition, your focus is getting back alive. So, the best advice I can give you is to keep your distance from the titans and keep going, only engage with titans when it’s your only option.”

“I bet you killed a titan on your first expedition,” Connie said. Eren nodded, but that wasn’t the point. In his first expeditions the more experienced soldiers took down the titans whilst the less experienced put the supplies in the houses, had his friends been on that expedition then Eren was sure they would’ve been part of the supply squad.

“My first expedition wasn’t like this one. We were placing supplies in houses so we had to take the titans down whilst with this expedition we’re travelling to Shiganshina. Which is further away and with us spread out its less likely will run into or lure to us as many titans.” Eren explained, hoping that it will reassure his friends, “anyway, it’s not like I’m gonna let anything happen to you.”

“Eren it’s sweet you’ll trying to protect us but…” Ymir started before trailing off as she figured how she wanted to phrase the next bit, “We could be long dead before you arrive”.

“That’s cute Ymir.” Eren said smiling, “You think deaths gonna get you out of this friendship.”

* * *

Unfortunately, whilst Eren would love to spend every waking moment with his friends, they still had an expedition to prepare for. So, for the next two days, Eren felt like he’d been running around the base like a headless chicken, going from Hange’s lab to the wagons to the supply rooms then back to the wagons. Eren wasn’t sure why but it felt like they were taking twice the amount of stuff on this expedition then they did on the last one. Eren could only assume it because they are going further this time.

“Um… Eren can I talk to you” a voice said behind him as Eren placed another box onto the supply wagon.

“Huh… oh Ackerman,” Eren said turning around surprised to see Mikasa there, he’d been a little worried about being confronted by her now she knew some truth to Eren’s situation, “What do you want?”.

“Can we talk about what happened in Trost?” She said she looked as uncomfortable as Eren felt. It was like Mikasa wasn’t sure how to approach Eren now she knew he could turn into a titan.

“Um sure, follow me,” Eren said, moving away from the wagons and headed towards a small area of the base which Eren knew it would be empty. Since Kenny and Alexander, the titans killed during the test, Erwin hadn’t given Hange permission to capture titans anymore even though they had the perfect opportunity with the titans sealed inside Trost. However, Erwin didn’t believe it would be wise to capture two titans whilst they needed to find out more about Eren’s powers which, according to Erwin, deserved Hange’s utmost attention. So, whilst the scouting regiment cleared out the titans from Trost, Hange sulked. This meant that the area where Hange keeps any captured titans has been deserted since, “What did you want, Ackerman?”.

“What they’ve said… about you turning into a titan. Is that true?” Mikasa asked, and Eren shrugged his shoulders, he wasn’t sure what he should say to that, Mikasa saw him ‘die’ and here he is, very much alive.

“Yea I guess, you saw my arm being bitten off yet here it is.” Eren said, lifting his left arm to emphasise his point, “If that’s all you wanted, then I need to get back to packing the wagons.”  
Eren went to leave. He didn’t want to be around Mikasa any longer, but Mikasa grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, taking Eren by complete surprise. What did she say? Mikasa let go of Eren’s arm, allowing him to turn around to look at her. She had her head bowed slightly, her eyes looking at the floor as if she’s scared to look at Eren.

“For what?” he asked.

“For everything.” Mikasa said, “For dismissing your feelings, I should’ve asked you for your reasons to why you wanted to join the scouting regiment instead of jumping to conclusions and constantly beating you down whenever the scouting regiment is brought up in conversation. I’m sorry for being a terrible sister to you. When we first met and saw this lost child, it reminded me of myself, when I watched my parents killed, and I didn’t know what to do next. I had no home, no family, and then suddenly, Carla was there with her arms open, welcoming me into her home. I wanted to be like that to you, but by doing so, I prioritised my own emotions over yours. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry for trying to make you look bad during our training corps. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done, and I’ll apologise to Ymir and Christa for getting into a fight with Ymir and punching Christa. I’m sorry for tampering with your gear; I didn’t know what would have happened had you used the gear, I didn’t want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you Eren yet; I’m constantly causing you pain. I’m sorry for nearly getting you killed. I should’ve been more careful than you wouldn’t have had to save me.” Mikasa continued, her eyes watering as she bared her heart and soul for Eren to see. “I’m not looking for forgiveness, I don’t deserve it, but you deserve an apology even though it can’t change anything from the past, you deserve one.”

Eren didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t been expecting Mikasa to apologise for anything she did to him. Eren always imagined that Mikasa had justified her actions in her mind. Perhaps the recent events were the shock to the system Mikasa needed to realise that what’s she done was wrong, “Mikasa… whilst I’m grateful for the apology, I can’t forgive you for what you did. I’m sorry”.

Mikasa nodded her head before saying, “I understand Eren, I do. I’m happy that you’re happy, you don’t look lost anymore. More like you’re finally home.”

* * *

Reiner wouldn’t say he’s worried, more like completely bricking it because today is the day of the expedition and he’s now being separated from his boyfriend until they reach the mark camp area tonight. Reiner hasn’t gone that long without being around Bertholdt for; actually, he couldn’t remember a time where he’s not been with or near him and the thought that he had to spend the next twelve hours with a colossal distance between them, it scared him. He trusted Bertholdt to keep himself safe. His position in the arrangement is at the tail with Ymir and Christa whilst Reiner is by himself in the right-wing rear. He didn’t like that distance; he hated that distance, but it’s not like he can abandon his post yet because they needed to make sure Gemini’s plan works out and for that to happen both Reiner and Bertholdt need to stay in their places just in case something happened on the expedition. They had to get a message to Annie or vice versa.

“You have that look on your face,” Bertholdt said, wrapping his arms around Reiner’s shoulders pulling his boyfriend’s body flush against his own.

“What look?” Reiner asked as he wrapped his arms around Bertholdt’s waist.

“The ‘I’m worried something will go wrong’ look, and you’re chewing your fingernails, you only do that when you’re worried,” Bertholdt said stroking the back of Reiner’s neck, playing with small bits of hair at the base of his neck, something Bertholdt’s done for years to help calm Reiner down. It works, Reiner’s shoulders relax as does his face, “What’s wrong?”.

“I don’t like being separated from you whilst we’re in titan territory. Anything can happen, and I won’t be there to protect you” Reiner said leaning his head against his boyfriend’s chest so Bertholdt wouldn’t see his expression as he whispered, “I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t lose me, Rei. I hate being away from you, but we don’t have any choice if everything goes to plan we’ll return home soon and then we’ll never have to be apart. Just one more mission that all it is, Rei” Bertholdt whispered, resting his head on Reiner’s, “And if anything happens, then come find me, you know where I am, and I know where you are. If something happens, then we can find each other.”

“What would I do without you Bertholdt Hoover,” Reiner said slightly pulling away from his boyfriend so he could reach up cupping Bertholdt’s cheek, pulling his boyfriend down to his height so he could press their lips together. Reiner wanted… no he needed to pour all his love into this kiss to show Bertholdt just how much he loved him. When this mission is a success, and they can finally go home, Reiner will marry this man.

* * *

Marco knew he shouldn’t be here; it’s his first day off since joining the Military Police. Jean wanted to spend the day resting in their shared room, which wasn’t awkward enough as it is. They hadn’t talked about the kiss, and Marco wasn’t sure whether Jean ever would. Had Marco been born on Paradis, he’d like to think he may have approached Jean, but that’s the sad truth. Marco fell more in love with Jean, and every day he remembered just how far apart they were. Jean’s worst fear is seeing the titans again whilst Marco is returning home from a failed mission and being punished by Marley for that failure. They live in two separate worlds, they’re from each side of the ocean and Marco wasn’t sure whether he could indulge himself with falling in love, only to break both his own and Jean’s heart when the time came, and Marco returned to Marley. So, Marco kept quiet, and he kept wondering if Jean meant to kiss him or whether it’s a spur of the moment, coming down from an adrenaline high, which he then came to regret, after all, Jean ran off when they finished kissing.

“Why did you want to see them off? We already saw Eren off a month ago,” Jean complained. Marco was adamant he wanted to watch the Scouting Regiment leave the walls with all their other friends, although Jean wasn’t aware of Marco’s ulterior motive. He wanted to be near the walls so he can escape later if all goes to plan and Annie captures Eren. Marco had no reason to doubt Gemini’s plan, and if anyone could take Eren on its Annie, but if being on this island has taught him anything, it is to expect everything to go wrong. The Paradis Military wasn’t meant to know how to take down titans, they weren’t meant to find out about the titan’s shifters, and the scouting regiment wasn’t meant to return to the walls earlier during the battle of Trost. If anything, Marco wouldn’t be surprised if this entire plan went to crap and they’re stuck inside these walls for another year, maybe longer.

“You didn’t have to come with me,” Marco said, whilst Jean constantly complained from the Stohess District where Jean, Annie and Marco were stationed to the Karanes District which the scouting regiment now used as the launching point for their expedition. Yet, whilst Jean didn’t want to go, he didn’t let Marco go by himself, which led to now. Marco and Jean carefully manoeuvring themselves around the growing crowd to a decent spot as the scouting regiment came into sight with Commander Erwin in front leading the rest. From where they were neither Marco nor Jean could see any of their friends, all the elites seemed to be near the front followed by Captain Levi and his squad. Marco saw Eren burred in the middle of the group between a strawberry blonde-haired woman and a blonde-haired man with two others behind them.

“Eren!” Marco shouted waving his arms in the air to attract the other boy’s attention, Eren looked away from the woman he’s talking with and smiled when he saw Marco, “Good Luck Eren, go get those titans!”.

“Marco! Jean! I can’t believe you came all this way to see us off” Eren said, grinning.

“Don’t overthink this Yeager, I came here unwillingly” Jean said, and Eren laughed giving a look which Marco could only describe as a ‘yeah right’ look like Eren knew something about Jean that Marco didn’t. Eren waved them goodbye as he passed by, turning back to his conversation with the woman, whilst Marco and Jean, well mainly Marco, wished the others good luck on the expedition. Sharing a look with Reiner and Bertholdt, silently wishing them luck on their mission and hopefully, the next time Marco sees them, they’ll be on their way back to Marley. As soon as that look past, Reiner and Bertholdt were gone. They were disappearing out the gate and into titan territory with the rest of the scouting regiment.

The rest of Marco’s plan was to travel around Karanes looking at the stools to delay leaving. After all, if the mission is unsuccessful, Marco didn’t want to waste the day travelling from one wall to the other and not do anything, and if the mission is a success, then Marco will get the signal and flee. He wasn’t sure how he could ditch Jean yet, but that’s something to worry about when the time comes.

“Marco” Jean started before trailing off, “Can we talk about… the kiss?”.

Marco nodded his head. Why did Jean bring this up now? He’s had the entire month since it happened to talk to him about it yet. The day Marco may leave, Jean wanted to talk about the kiss.

“Listen, I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable in any way, I guess you deserve an explanation,” Jean said. He’s looking at the floor rubbing the back of the neck, “When you disappeared during the battle it terrified me. I thought you might’ve died and I would never know and then you returned with Reiner and Bertholdt, and it made me realise just how important you are to me and how devastated I would be if I’d lost you, so I kissed you and then I wasn’t sure what to do next. You’ve shown no signs of being interested in me so, I thought avoiding the subject would make my feelings for you go away, but they haven’t, and I don’t think they ever will. Marco, I like you, and I understand if you don’t feel the same way, I don’t want to ruin our friendship, I needed you to know. So, now you know. It’s a lot to take in, your friend suddenly confessing their feeling to you so, I’m going to wander around Karanes to give you some space.”

And with that Jean started walking off, leaving Marco frozen to the spot, Jean liked him. Jean had feelings for him, Marco’s heart soared that the man he loves likes him back, but that complicates everything. Whilst Marco wants to run away with Jean into the sunset and have their happily ever after. Still, he can’t; he has his duty to Marley if the others discover that his loyalty could waver because of his relationship with someone they’ve grown up believing to be devils. Would they send him back to Marley and let either Marcel or Porco inherit his titan, he didn’t want to die, not until it’s his time.  
But doesn’t he deserve to be happy? He’s spent five years on this island; he has only six years left until the curse of Ymir claims his life. Titan shifters never get their happy ending, not in this cruel yet beautiful world. Maybe being with Jean, even if it’s for a couple of hours, is worth it. He deserves to experience happiness before his hometown rips it away from him. Marco looked over to where Jean went. He hadn’t gotten far with the number of people crowding the marketplace now the Scouting Regiment had left.

“Jean!” he shouted, darting through the crowd as fast as he can trying his best not to hit or step on anyone whilst Jean stood glued to the spot. He looked terrified, his eyes focusing on anything which isn’t Marco, but instead, Marco took Jean’s hand in his, entangling their fingers together as he stood in front of Jean.

“You’re an idiot,” Marco said not giving Jean the chance to respond before stepping into Jean’s personal space leaning down slightly, he captured Jean’s lips with his own, using his free hand to cup the side of Jean’s face. It took a few seconds for it to register in Jean’s brain what was happening, the other boy shocked. He never expected Marco to kiss him, slap or punch him, yes, kiss him no. Jean responded with the same ferocity, his free hand clutching at Marco’s waist. Neither boy caring that they’re in public because to them, the entire world has disappeared, leaving only them behind. The warrior and the soldier clinging to one another as if this would fade away the moment they let go.

And in that single kiss, Marco committed to a life he could never fully have, he committed to a relationship which his hometown would look down on horrified that a warrior of Marley would dare fall in love with an Eldian devil, but Marco didn’t care. He wants Jean, and for once in his life, he’s giving in to his own desires.


	22. Chapter 22

The only problem joining the scouting regiment trying to capture Eren Yeager is that no one can help Annie should Captain Levi interfere if anything goes wrong. So, Gemini needed to figure out how they can draw Captain Levi away from the rest of his squad without tipping off Yeager and the rest of the squad. Gemini had a rough guess that Eren is hidden somewhere in the formation. On their formation information sheets, it says Levi’s squad is spearheading the right-wing. However, Gemini didn’t trust the information. Gemini doubt Erwin would put such a valuable asset in the formation’s front. So he could only guess that Eren’s actual location is being kept a secret to keep him safe (even though the rest of Paradis humanity do not know about the existence of titan shifters). The safest position in the formation is the rear of the centre rank just before Bertholdt. Still, suppose the location on the formation is right, or Erwin’s made some last-minute changes. In that case, Gemini couldn’t risk them missing out on Eren so, the best plan he could think of in such a short time is for Annie to attack the right-wing and make her way to the centre rear searching for Eren as she goes and once they’ve captured Eren, the final stages of their plan can begin.

* * *

Annie's eyes scanned over the Scouting Regiment members' unfamiliar faces as she ran up behind them. She'd eradicated most of the right-wing searching for Eren but with little success. She'd been running in her titan form for nearly two hours now, and if she's correct, she's almost through the whole right-wing soon, she'll turn around and heads to the area where Gemini suspected Eren might be, she needed to find him soon if the second stage of Gemini's plan goes ahead. Getting further away from Wall Rose is problematic, for the next part of the plan. Bertholdt and Reiner need to turn around and make it back to Wall Rose preferable before the scouting regiment returns and considering neither Reiner nor Bertholdt can transform until they reach the walls, they are utterly reliant on travelling by horseback. It's times like this Annie wished Marco came with her even if he acted like a lookout for her before taking Reiner and Bertholdt back to the walls, but no, he's happily wandering about the Karanes District staring at Jean with love hearts in his eyes.

She mentally sighed as another scout latched their hooks into her titan's body, flying up to her nape. Annie grabbed the wire, yanking it out of her flesh as her eyes landed on another scout watching her in horror as she started spinning the wire in between her fingers. Around and around until finally letting go not paying any attention to where the now-dead scout's body landed. Instead, she started running after another scout, hardening her leg as she brought it down, kicking the horse sending both it and the scout on its back flying. She didn't look back; she didn't want to look at the devastation she'd caused, the broken, lifeless body staining the ground.

She didn't enjoy killing what child grew up intending to murder hundreds of people, but she has no choice. If she ever wanted to return home to her father, then she'd have to follow Gemini's orders, attack the scouting regiment, capture Eren then and only then can she go home. All Annie wanted to do was fulfil her father's wish to return to his side. After everything Annie's gone through in these last five years, all she wants is to go home. She doesn't care about capturing Eren Yeager; she doesn't care about finding the founding titan, she's said time after time to Gemini and Reiner, the information they've gathered will be valuable to Marley, but Gemini refused to leave until now. She's worried that if they stay here any longer, developing stronger relationships with the people on Paradis, then Gemini, Marco they won't let them leave. All the warriors know that Marco's in love with Jean, they know Gemini is best friends with cadets from the 104th, betraying them won't be easy and the longer they're stuck here, the harder it's going to get. They have to leave; they need to leave.

A flicker of green caught Annie's attention as she watched another scout ride past, their face obscured by their cloak hood. She didn't think it would be Eren, but she couldn't risk killing them without checking their faces. Annie ran after the scout, watching as they tried to speed up, but they weren't fast enough. Stomping her enormous foot in front of the horse, it buckled, throwing the rider off its back yet; the hood stayed firmly in place. The scout pushed themselves to their knees, arms shaking, refusing to look up at her. Annie knelt beside it, reaching out with her one hand carefully lifting the hood. Blonde hair spilt out from underneath the hood, and the scout looked up.

'Armin.'

* * *

It’s quiet, too quiet for Eren’s liking. He’s been outside the walls before. He knew how dangerous it is, and being stuck in what’s considered the safest part of formation just felt like a knock to his abilities. Didn’t he prove himself to anyone during the last expedition and the battle in Trost that he’s capable of protecting himself and others? He saves Oluo; he helps liberate Trost Headquarters when others refused to go anywhere near it. He knew Erwin wanted him in the safest position because of his titan shifting ability, and they might need it when they reach Wall Maria. Erwin believed this laboratory is well hidden because of the countless times the scouting regiment left on expeditions they never stumbled across any building outside the walls, any base they tried to build the titans destroyed. This laboratory must be well hidden to keep titans and the scouting regiment from discovering it. They purely rely on Eren’s memory returning to find it so; they needed Eren to survive the journey to Wall Maria. However, it still hurt that Erwin didn’t believe in Eren’s capabilities that much, that they forced him to hide away keeping his actual location is a secret kept his friends.

Eren’s feelings aside, it’s still too quiet for his liking. He knew the formation designed to avoid titans as much as possible, and they’ve already changed directions at least six times since leaving the walls. Still, Petra said the special operations squad usually dealt with any normal or abnormal titans whilst the rest of the regiment pushed on. She explained how they usually encountered a dozen titans at the beginning of the expedition with a higher number of titans closer to the walls. The further away the regiment got, the fewer titans they saw. In theory, when they reach Shiganshina and go outside Wall Maria, they are only likely to stumble across one or two titans mostly likely being abnormal. Yet, they were roughly two hours away from Wall Rose and nowhere near Wall Maria, so where are the titans. Even with the left and right-wing shooting flares whenever they saw a titan, some titans should’ve made it through the wings and into the middle, the formation may be designed to avoid titans, it didn’t mean they avoided every titan. Now, Eren thought about it; the right-wing hadn’t fired any flares recently. Had something happened?

“Levi, it’s too quiet,” Eren said. He couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

“He’s right, Captain, we haven’t seen any flares from the right-wing for at least forty-five minutes. Has something happened over there?” Petra said, she looked worried, her eyes continually searching her surrounding as if a sudden swarm of titans will appear out of nowhere and attack them. Honestly, Eren was feeling like that too. Could a large group of titans annihilate the right-wing? Should they send someone to investigate? If Eren remembered correctly, both Armin and Reiner were near the right-wing, has something happened to them? He hopes not; it would devastate Bertholdt should Reiner die, he’d never wish that pain on his friend on any of his close friends.

“Captain, I can investigate for you. Show those rookies my skills,” Oluo said, but Levi kept quiet, ushering his horse to keep moving forward. Eren stared at Levi, the muscles in his shoulders were tensed. Was something else at play that Eren isn’t aware of, is Levi, Hange and Erwin keeping secrets from him?

“Levi, what’s going on?” Eren asked, and Levi sighed, turning his head slightly as he looked over at Eren.

“Erwin has a theory, and if he’s right then its why we have seen no flares from the right-wing” Levi said and Eren frowned his eyes trailing towards the right-wing, hoping that any second now a flare would appear and everything would be fine, “Eren, do you trust me?”.

“I do,” Eren said without a shred of doubt in his mind. He trusts Levi more than he trusts himself. Well, there is only so far, he could trust himself when he didn’t know who he is and from the memories, he’s slowly received, he’s slightly scared to find out who he once was, that he’ll become a monster, but with Levi and Hange by his side then he’s sure they’ll ground him and keep him human. So, with such conviction, he trusts Levi no matter the decisions he makes, Eren will follow Levi to the end of the earth.

“Then trust me with this Eren, keep moving forward,” Levi said, almost as an order. Eren sighed but nodded his head. He sightly prayed to whatever god out there that his friends will stay safe because whatever happens, it’s nothing good.

* * *

Annie stared at Armin for a few seconds, taking in the frightened look as he stared at her. She knew she should kill him, it’s what she’s been doing to all the other members of the scouting regiment, or she called the nearest pure titans to her to finish them, but this is different because this person is Armin. She knew Armin; she spent the last three years training with him; she couldn’t kill him. Not like this. Annie dropped Armin’s hood as she stood to her feet, taking one last look at him, trying to ingrain his face in her memory. This might be the last time she sees him before turning her back to Armin and took off. It’s time she finally went for Eren and got the hell out of here.

* * *

Armin stayed frozen to the spot, watching the titan run away. Did that happen? Did an abnormal titan look underneath his hood to see his face before running off, this isn't possible? Titans are drawn to humans, even abnormal titans lock onto a particular target, but he's never heard of a titan doing what that abnormal did. It's like that thing is showing intelligence, but an intelligent titan, they can't exist, or humanity would've fallen.

"Armin!" A familiar voice shouted; Armin looked around to see Reiner galloping towards him.

"Reiner!" Armin said relived as he slumped to the floor.

"Hey, can you ride? What the hell are you doing? This is full-blown titan territory; you can't be without a horse! Climb on" Reiner said, reaching out to help Armin to his feet before unhooking the horse attached to his own and handing it over to Armin. Armin smiled gratefully at Reiner as he climbed on the horse, his eyes trailing back to the titan in the distance. Something's wrong with this picture. Armin still couldn't get his head around what happened to him, this titan's displaying signs of intelligence and its heading straight towards the command of the formation, it's like it knows where it's going and who it's targeting, it's like the titan is looking for a particular person but who? Commander Erwin, Squad Leader Hange, or is it someone Armin would never guess in a million years.

"What happened here?" Reiner asked.

"I-I'm not sure, it sounds crazy, but I think this titan has some signs of intelligence. It looked underneath my hood to check my face like it looking for someone and then ran off. I don't know how or why, and I can't prove it, but it's heading towards the command squad now, and if it kills Commander Erwin, the formation will fall apart, and we'll die" Armin explained, Reiner shot him a concerned and doubtful look.

"Okay, I can't say I believe you, but we need to protect the commander until someone can get a message to him. Shoot a black flare, and maybe we can distract it long enough to get a message to the commander, and he can decide what we need to do next" Reiner said, and Armin nodded. He wasn't sure why he didn't think of that before. He grabbed his flare gun and black flare, the signal for an abnormal before loading it into the gun, aiming it into the air and fired.

"If we're going to distract, then we need to keep our distance. I've seen what it can do from afar, one swipe of that arm and we're all flattened" Armin warned, he'd watched as this female titan quickly killed Ness and Cis with its arms and legs alone, "Also cover your head, it may give you vital few seconds if it has to check if you're its target."

"If you're sure Armin," Reiner said, lifting his hood to cover his face before motioning his horse away drawing up to the left side of the titan whilst Armin took a right. He'd wished they had another capable soldier with them like Eren to help fight this titan, but they couldn't wait for someone to appear. For all he knows, no one else could be around for miles. So instead, Armin needed to focus, slicing its tendons should bring it down, but they can't do anything crazy, or they'll die.

Armin jumped from his horse, shooting his cables to the titan's leg raising his blades as he zoomed towards it, but the titan turned around suddenly, its hand covered itself in a crystal substance as the titan brought it down towards Armin. 

"Armin!" Reiner shouted, speeding over towards him, pushing him out of the way as the hand grabbed hold of Reiner. Armin let out a shaky breath as he fell to the floor. The titan meant to catch him, and Reiner pushed him out of the way to save his life.

"Reiner!" Armin shouted watching in horror as the titan's thumb pressed down on Reiner's head and then, its fingers were gone, steam rose from its hand as Reiner flew out falling to the ground for a brief second to grab Armin, hoisting him underneath his arm as he ran off.

"We've must have brought enough time for the Commander to get out of here, we should go too," Reiner said, and Armin didn't have the energy in him to argue. Instead, he started whistling calling both his and Reiner's horses to them. Reiner all but dumped Armin onto his horse before climbing onto his own, that's when Armin braved to look back at the titan, it stood there watching its hand heal, it didn't pay any attention to Reiner and Armin's retreat instead, it turned, now facing a different direction from the command squad, in fact, it is facing the rear end of the formation.

"What's it doing?" Armin muttered mostly to himself, which drew Reiner's attention back to the titan as they both watched the abnormal take off in a completely different direction, "It's heading for the rear of the formation now, why would it suddenly change directions?"

"Armin, you see if you can catch up with another squad to tell them what's going on," Reiner said worry filled his voice, his eyes glued to the direction the titan went, "It is heading in Bertholdt's direction, I-I can't leave him."

"Reiner go, find Bertholdt," Armin said, and Reiner didn't need any more encouraging as he turned his titan around and he took off after the titan.

* * *

Reiner wasn’t that worried. He knew Annie wouldn’t kill Bertholdt, but it would’ve raised too many unwanted questions had Reiner left to find his boyfriend without seeming a little concerned for Bertholdt’s safety. Running into Annie with Armin gave Reiner the perfect excuse to look for him. Reiner’s fully aware should anyone else find out he’s abandoned his post to check up on his boyfriend then he’s never going to hear the end of it and will be in serious trouble with the chain of command. Still, Reiner believes everything will go to Gemini’s plan and that he won’t deal with the scouting regiment ever again, they were already trying his nerves. The longer he’s staying here, the harder it gets. Reiner’s glad that he’s got Bertholdt with him. Bertholdt keeps Reiner ground to reality.

“Bertholdt!” Reiner shouted as he approached the tall figure on horseback. He couldn’t see Christa nor Ymir. They’re probably spread out a little further, which makes having this conversation a little easier plus he’s glad Ymir won’t be there to tease him like she does so many times before.

“Reiner,” Bertholdt said, slowing his horse down to a stop as Reiner got closer, “What are you doing here?”.

“Annie’s decimated the right-wing, she’s heading for Eren, as we speak. Thought I’d make my way to you once we get the signal we can head back to the walls. It should give us a head start over the scouting regiment and by the time they return it will be too late” Reiner explained reaching over, taking Bertholdt’s hand in his and entangling their fingers together.

“Do you think Gemini’s plan will work?” Bertholdt asked, “I mean, we both know it’s reckless and is all or nothing, but will it work?”.

“It’s a shot in the dark baby, it really is, but what choice have we got, we’ve been here for five years, and we are nowhere near finding the founding titan at this point, we have to try anything,” Reiner said. Gemini’s plan is simple, with the scouting regiment mostly destroy and distracted by Annie. Reiner and Bertholdt returned to the Karanes District where they both take on their titan forms and breach Wall Rose, then Reiner and Bertholdt meet up with Marco, who’s already waiting for them in the district to get them to Wall Sina - the Stohess District where they will breach that wall too. Reiner honestly wasn’t sure the thinking behind Gemini’s plan, Bertholdt’s right with saying that this plan seems like the last resort. They’re all at the end of their tether, they’ve been here for five years continually searching for the founding titan to no avail. They’re bound to grasp at straws, trying to lure the founding titan out. But this plan could only go ahead if Annie grabbed Eren.

“This will work. Annie will get Eren, and we’ll return home” Bertholdt said, and Reiner leaned over pressing his lips to Bertholdt’s in a quick yet sweet kiss, then he kissed the corner of Bertholdt’s mouth, then his cheek before finishing with his temple.

“Whatever happens, as long as I’m with you, everything will be fine” Reiner whispered before kissing his boyfriend again.

* * *

Gemini stayed close to Annie; he couldn’t stay in control for long; it’s like a battle going on in his head as each side of his personality were fighting for control of his body. He knew he’d have the let the idiot take control sooner before anyone on his squad became suspicious, but for now all he can do is watch, pushing his horse to go faster trying to keep ahead of Annie’s large footsteps.

Gemini couldn’t believe everything is going to plan; they’re so close. All he needs to do is slowly separate Eren from the group and let Annie capture him then they can get the signal to Reiner and Bertholdt to start the next phase of the plan. Only their titans could destroy the walls, even Gemini recognised how reckless his new plan is, but they had no choice. With the founding titan safely concealing itself inside the walls, they needed to use the pure titans as a weapon to draw it out. Gemini’s idea behind this plan is that with all the walls, breached humanity has nothing to hide behind. This includes the founding titan, which means it must reveal itself and fight or let itself be eaten by a pure titan and their titan is passed on to a titan thief. Gemini hoped this process would continuously happen until one warrior found the founding titan’s inheritor and either ate them or brought them back to Marley to pass the titan on to another warrior. It’s risky, he knows that, but what choice does he have, they’re running out of options now? He needs this mission to end, and whether it’s with the destruction of Paradis, then that is what’s going to happen.

‘It’s pathetic’ he thought as he watched scout after scout died after trying to attack Annie and bring her down. They’ve been to war using their titan forms to destroy their enemies before Marley sent any of them to Paradis, they knew how to manipulate and control their titans forms better than they knew how to use their human bodies. Hence, each warrior knew their strengths, weakness, and how far they could push their titan form before they needed to rest. Annie is more than capable of bringing them down, but he still worried. He’s the Vice-Captain of the Warrior Squad; it’s his duty to protect his warriors and each time a scout aims for Annie’s nape, he’s overcome with the worry that they’ll reach it and kill her but then Annie kills them and charges towards Eren once more. Gemini can only hope this will all end soon, Annie is his strongest warrior on this mission. He believes in her; she’ll capture Eren and return to Liberio to see her father. Annie won’t let him down.

“Fire!” a voice said, and Gemini looked up to his horror to see scouting regiment members hidden in the trees, then suddenly hundreds of grappling hooks fire from out of nowhere. Gemini urges his horse to go faster trying to avoid the hooks, but it isn’t until he’s cleared them when he realised they weren’t aimed at him. However, it’s aimed for something behind him. Gemini’s slowly turned his head to see Annie’s female form trapped. Her hands covering her nape with the hundreds of grappling hooks stuck into her body from her arms to her legs, she’d never get out without revealing that Eren Yeager wasn’t the only titan shifter around.

‘Shit.’


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting last week, my sister moved out so, I was busy helping and with it being a little hectic at the time I could write I couldn't focus. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> ALSO, THERE WILL BE RECENT MANGA SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILT TO THE MANGA THEN STOP READING!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Annie knew she couldn’t panic; she needed to think through this. What would Gemini do if he ended up in her position, what the hell Annie knew Gemini would’ve seen this coming from a mile away and would never get himself trapped unless it’s a part of his plan? This is not part of the plan; she needed to escape quickly with every passing second Eren would get further away from her. Whilst she could easily make up the distance, Annie couldn’t be sure they were following the same path of the forest or deviated in another direction to keep her from finding them. She’ll lure then to her, but first, she needs to escape her binding. The scouting regiment had utterly caught her off guard, from the equipment it looks like they were expecting another titan shifter to show up. Maybe they shouldn’t have dismissed Erwin as quickly as the warriors did, he’s smarter than they expected and if he believes there are other titan shifters out there, then Annie needs to be careful.

She feels something land on her head; she needs to get out of here. Annie can’t climb out her nape; the scouts could easily see her, so she had little choice she has to draw the closest pure titans to her, they could consume her titan form distracting the scouting regiment enough they hopefully won’t notice her escaping. If her suspicions are right, Erwin will order the scouting regiment to protect her titan form whilst she disappears amongst the scouts’ movement. She’s lucky Gemini gave her a green scouting regiment cloak should anything go wrong. She needs to hide alongside their enemy. Inside her titan form, Annie pulled her one arm free from the tissue connecting her, grabbing the hood of the cloak, pulling it firmly over her head and shrieked.

* * *

Eren’s heart is pounding in his chest as he forces his horse to push on, leaving Levi and the captured titan behind. He didn’t get why he had to keep moving forward when he would be safer being near Levi. Not that Eren wasn’t capable of protecting himself from titans or that he doesn’t trust Petra, Oluo, Gunther and Eld to protect him… he prefers Levi’s company, he always has since he’s little. Getting further away from Levi without any way of knowing what was happening is distressing. What if something goes wrong and Levi needs their help? Many what if running through his head, each scenario he comes up with the ending is worse than the others? What if the titan escapes and attacks Levi? What if returning to his squad Levi’s equipment becomes damaged and accidentally leave him behind as they continue to Shiganshina? Then he hears the shriek; it sends chills down his spine as he turned around looking back at the titan. He doesn’t know why, but he recognises it. Something in the back of his mind tells him he’s heard it before or something similar, but he’s not sure where. Another thing kept away from him by himself.

“Look a flare, Captain Levi must want to meet up with us there,” Eld spotted, “Switch to ODM gear.”

Eren jumped from his horse, following Eld as they travelled through the trees to the flare. Something missing, they’re missing something. He can feel it in his bones. He somehow knew Levi didn’t fire that flare.

* * *

Annie waited, hidden in the trees after shooting the flare. It’s her only hope that they will believe it belongs to their captain. With the element of surprise, she can quickly kill one, maybe two scouts protecting Eren before taking on her titan form again to kill the rest, she knows Eren will attack her, try to bring her down. Eren hasn’t beat her in a fight, and this Eren doesn’t know the capabilities of his titan form. She ultimately had the upper hand.

Stepping off the tree branch, Annie followed parallel with Levi’s squad, eyeing them up. They’re strong. She couldn’t underestimate them as they had with Erwin, which means she needs to quickly take out one of them before the others can react. Annie catapulted herself around a tree, bring her blades up her eyes briefly connected with the surprised face of short brown crop hair. He didn’t have the chance to react as Annie slit his throat with her one blade and disappeared behind a tree. She couldn’t risk going after another scout. One on one she had a chance; four on one, they can easily overpower her. Annie sighed, sheathing her blades, pushing herself off from the tree and bit her knuckle.

* * *

Eren recognised the lighting from anywhere; he'd seen it encompass himself and his brother when they shifted. Unlike the others, he's not surprised when he sees the female titan burst out of the trees. The human who killed Gunther; they are like him; they can shift into a titan. Does that mean the Armored and Colossal titans, did they have titans hidden inside their napes? How many other people had this ability? Is the motherland behind the attack on the walls? Did they send the Armored, Colossal and Female titans to breach humanity and if so, why? What did the humans living peacefully behind the walls do to offend the motherland, or was this a long time coming?

"Aim for the nape; they are a shifter like me. We need to get the human controlling this titan out of their nape" Eren shouted, the rest of the squad needed to understand the threat they're facing. Erwin must have suspected that other shifters existed after the revelation that he could turn into a titan. It must be why he kept Eren's location secret to protect him from other shifters who might come after him, but that leaves the question. If only a small group of people knew about Eren's shifting, which one is inside the nape or is there a traitor amongst them. Is this person Gemini? Have they finally come after him?

"Are you sure?" Petra asked, looking a little sceptic. Eren looked the titan's face over. He can't help but feel like he knows this person. He knows whoever is hiding in the nape.

"Yes," Eren said.

"Eren, if this is a shifter they must be after you, leave the fight to us," Eld said, and Eren looked at him in disbelief. Eld wants him to sit out the fight.

"No, we're a squad. We stand by each other's side no matter what" Eren said, he isn't leaving them behind. Eld sighed but didn't press. Eren can be stubborn when he wants to be, he isn't going anywhere, and that's final. Instead, Eren turned his attention to the female titan who seems to eye each of them up, discovering their strengths, their weaknesses. Eld moved first, almost teasing the titan as she reached for him, only for Eld to dart away in the cloud of smoke. Oluo and Petra suddenly appeared to the side of the titan's face, quickly cutting her eyes. Eren grinned, shooting his cables into the back of the female titan's legs, slicing at the ligaments of both knees. The female titan stumbled back, collapsing to the floor, but not before she covered her nape with the hand. Steam poured out of its eyes as Eren attached himself to the tree beside the female titan's face. It looked pathetic now, every ounce of power it once had gone after being quickly destroyed by the strength of Captain Levi's squad.

"Who are you?" Eren asked, even though he knew the titan couldn't reply. There is no such thing as a talking titan, well that humanity knew about. When Zeke shifted, he could speak in titan form. Even if this shifter could, he doubts they would talk in front of the scouts, "Why are you coming after me? Who sent you?".

"Are you from the same place where I got my powers?" Eren said, it's hard to read the titan when you can't see their expression through one eye… wait for what. Eren's eyes widened as he stared into the singular regenerated eye. That's impossible these types of injuries dealt to a titan would take at least 30 seconds to heal, but barely 10 seconds had passed.

"Eren watch out" Petra screamed, shoving him into the tree he'd been attached to for the hooks to give way and end crashed to the ground. His eyes never left Petra; the titan had moved, snatching Petra out of the air biting her body in two before spitting her onto the floor. Petra had saved him, he'd been so distracted with the titan sudden regenerated eye he didn't see it move to attack him, yet Petra had, and now she's dead. He heard Oluo scream as Eren could only assume as he attacked the female titan, but Eren could only stare at Petra's broken body.

"Eren run" Eld shouted. Eren didn't; he couldn't move. It's like his entire body had forgotten how to. Out of the corner of his eye, Eren saw the titan stand, its leg ligaments healed. He saw it raise its leg; a strange crystal substance appeared as the titan brought it down onto something sending it flying. The body landed in front of him – it's Eld.

"Damn you!" Oluo screamed, and Eren looked up only to watch the female titan grab hold of the cable as Oluo shot towards its nape and slammed it into the ground. Oluo's body smashed into the ground beside Petra's. They're dead, all of them. Levi's squad died protecting his pathetic ass. It didn't matter how strong he is; he couldn't do anything to save them; he didn't help. He watched, sat on the floor as they died. They should've stayed with Levi; he'd protect them. He could bring the female titan down, but he isn't here. He didn't defend him, protect them.

Eren narrowed his eyes as he pushed himself to his feet; he's not useless. He's not helpless. He will avenge his fallen comrades, every single one. Eren brought his hand up to his mouth, biting into it hard, breaching the skin. His body surrounded by the yellow lightning as his titan formed around his human body, the tissue is connecting to his face, arms, and legs. He stared at the female titan through his titan's eyes as he let out an enormous roar. The roar Levi would recognise, he'll know Eren's shifted, and he can come to help him destroy the female titan, to get revenge on the death of his squad.

The female titan smirked as she stepped forward, it's like she wanted Eren to shift. Did she need to confirm that he could transform into a titan or is there something else? Eren hated being in the dark. The female titan lifted its left hand, clamping her fingers except one together as she lifted it to her ear and slowly rotated her finger around it. Eren felt almost hypnotised as he watched the finger turn before collapsing to his knees and blacked out.

* * *

Armin heard the roar deep inside the forest as he stood beside Mikasa. They tried to lure the nearest titans to them whilst whatever operation Commander Erwin planned took place, except that failed after they heard a blood-curdling shriek emanate from inside the forest. The Titans ran in like they all suddenly become abnormals. They’d tried to stop them, but the rampaging titans were on a mission and the most escaped into the forest before anyone could stop them. Then they heard another titan roar, and Mikasa took off into the forest, and stupidly Armin followed. He didn’t know where Mikasa’s going, charging through the woods with some destination in mind.

“Eren!” Mikasa shouted, landing on a tree branch as she started at something. How did Mikasa know where Eren is? Isn’t he meant to be in the right-wing with Captain Levi and his squad, why would they or at least Eren be here? Armin landed beside Mikasa and looked into the small clearing, the abnormal female titan he saw earlier stood in front of another titan, its mouth stretched out wide as it leant over the other titan’s nape, but there’s no sign of Eren. Armin went to look at Mikasa, questioning her where Eren might be when he saw something sticking out the unconscious titan’s nape. His eyes widened as his eyes went from the brown hair on the figure’s head to the scouting regiment uniform it wore. Even at this distance, Armin recognised who it is – it’s Eren. Eren’s sticking out of a titan’s nape, his arms attached to some red tissue keeping him from falling out the titan’s nape.

The female titan’s eyes locked with Armin’s as its mouth covered Eren’s body, ripping him from the nape and swallowed. Eren’s a titan… and he’s been eaten. 

* * *

Eren felt like he’s floating. His body unattached to the laws of his world and instead hovered in the air. He looked down at the ground yet; he could only see barrels of steam coming from whatever hidden behind it.

“This is the future, not even five years from now,” a familiar voice said, Eren turned around, or rather his body seemingly floated around. Ymir Fritz stood behind him. She didn’t look any different from the last time he saw her, still wearing her tattered dress with a cloth headband and leather sandals.

“What’s happening?” Eren asked, looking down at the steam as it moved forward, leaving nothing behind except some marks on the group which Eren couldn’t fully make out from this height.

“Life is being destroyed; it will destroy humanity unless you come to me with the founder. Together we can stop this future, but first, you need to wake up. Your true memories are slowly returning, but at this rate, the world will die before you truly remember who you are. Eren Yeager, the attack titan, my descendant only you can save the world form its destruction” Ymir Fritz said before disappearing, leaving Eren stranded in the air. He didn’t know how long he stayed there, watching the steam move until it started climbing the mountains. Only then did Eren realise what it hides beneath the steam. Titans hundreds of Colossal titans, marching forward as it crushes everything in sight. Is anyone still alive, or is it like Ymir Fritz said, humanity has been wiped out and the titans won? Where did all these colossal titans come from? Are there more, is the titan he saw sticking its head over the wall in Shiganshina one of many? There isn’t anywhere outside the walls where you could hide hundreds of colossal titans without the scouting regiment finding them.

Yet, deep in his mind, Eren knew. It’s like every time he ends up in this realm with Ymir Fritz, he comes away with answers to questions he never asks; he learns more about the world he lives in, which he still can’t understand. He can hear the answer whispering to him in the back of his mind, luring him in.

‘They hide in plain sight. Where the scouting regiment can see them but will never notice the titans. The hundreds of colossal titans make up the walls that protect humanity’ the voice whispers and Eren doesn’t want to believe it. How can hundreds of colossal titans hide inside the walls with no one noticing, without the scouting regiment or the garrisons finding them whenever they add additional features to the walls? He knows he shouldn’t trust this voice, but he does. He accepts titans are the walls surrounding them; he accepts it like he accepts his titan form. One day in five-year time, the walls will collapse, and the colossal titans will destroy the world, kill everyone he holds dear to him, and like hell is Eren going to let that happen. Eren isn’t anything, if not stubborn, and he will willingly sacrifice himself to protect the people he loves, Levi, Reiner, Armin, Christa, Ymir, Shadis, Hange, Moblit, Bertholdt. This destruction won’t happen, not if Eren’s alive. 

* * *

Annie didn’t know what hit her. One second she’s pulling Eren’s unconscious form from his titan’s nape, the next a blur spun around her body, cutting her arms and legs faster than she can harden her skin. She’d been so distracted with Mikasa and Armin appearing; she hadn’t noticed the other figure who came flying at her. This can only be the strength which belongs to humanity’s strongest. Gemini had warned her, told her how dangerous and powerful Levi is, that she needed to be careful and get away before Levi found her.

Each of her senses and control went one by one, first her arms, then her eyes, her ability to stand. It’s like a tornado has enveloped her body, destroying every part of her in one go. Annie knows she’s lost before she hits the ground, there’s no way she can get a message to Reiner or Bertholdt that she is being attacked or even send them to destroy the walls, all of Gemini’s plan thrown out the window because she hesitated. Annie should’ve grabbed Eren when she had the chance instead of killing the squad members; then she might’ve gotten closer to Wall Maria before the scouting regiment realised what happened. Her wish to see her father is dust; she’ll return to Wall Sina having failed her mission waiting for instructions on their next move.

Her mouth fell open, and she felt Eren being dragged out and taken away. She heard Captain Levi snapping at Mikasa and Armin, but she didn’t listen to what was being said. All she can feel is the pain washing over her, the fatigue settling into her muscles. She’s reaching her limit; she needs to return to the safety of the walls before she falls unconscious in titan territory. She waited until she is sure that the scouting regiment was long gone before pulling herself out of her titan form, her eyes scanning her surroundings for any slight movement from either a scout or a titan, but she found nothing. All are still in the titan forest.

‘Gemini won’t be pleased’ Annie thinks as she fires the grappling hooks into the nearest tree and takes off.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating recently; I'm really busy with my uni work that my schedule is a little all over the place. I'm slowly approaching the deadlines for my assignment and independent study in April and May so, I'm going to warn you that I might not be updating this story as regularly as I was; I'm going to try my best to stick to an update a week, but I'm not going to force myself if I don't have time. 
> 
> Anywho, enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Days like today, Moblit often feels like the world is against him. Like life stares at his suffering and laughs only to pile more pain onto him. His sister taken and held hostage until he delivers someone he considers a dear friend to Kenny the Ripper. Yet, every second which passes, his opportunity slowly slips away. Kenny wanted Eren at the end of this expedition, but it’ll be impossible to get Eren away from Levi, who’s looking after him like a hawk, waiting and maybe even hoping Eren will wake up soon. And it didn’t help Moblit injured his leg, helping Hange disassemble the cable canons they used on the Female Titan. There’s no way he’s going to make it away from the scouting regiment without anyone seeing him let alone if he took a conscious or unconscious Eren with him. People would see, questions will be asked, and it wouldn’t take long before Erwin, Levi, and Hange discovered who took him.

He couldn’t risk it; Levi will kill him if something happens to Eren. Instead, he allows himself to be taken into the Walls’ safety heading straight to headquarters will a noticeable reduction of members. Villagers talk, Moblit keeps his head down and prays to any god that may exist to protect and spare his sister life. Hange helps him to their quarters with his busted leg to rest whilst the scouting regiment unpacked what is left of their supplies. Morale is at an all-time low; no one fancied talking. Even Hange is keeping quiet. This expedition has been a complete mess; they’d lost all the soldiers in the right-wing, experienced and recruit alike. They nearly lost Eren to the female titan after she escaped; the only thing this expedition confirmed is Erwin’s theory that more titan shifters are hiding behind the walls. From the looks of it, most of them aren’t on humanities side and the titan shifter who is, is still unconscious, and no one sure how long it will take for Eren to wake up. Whether being pulled from his titan form and eaten will have any lasting effect on the shifter.

From the little Moblit had seen when Hange practically dragged him to their quarters, Levi still refused to leave Eren’s side — carrying him away, not caring about how it will look. Moblit understood why Levi’s acting like this, he’s lost his whole squad to the female titan, and now, he’s worried he’ll lose Eren. It’s evident to anyone who knew Levi well on his feelings for Eren, even if Levi himself suppresses how he feels to the deepest depths of his heart. Seeing his squad dead and then Eren nearly taken away from him must have snapped something inside Levi, something that made him accept how precious Eren is to him. With Levi protecting Eren, Moblit doubt Kenny the Ripper would get anywhere near Eren. Maybe he’ll give up and return Heidi to his parents, which will be the end of it, but when does anything go his way.

Barely an hour passed, and Moblit found himself a little restless; he couldn’t sleep or, more likely, he didn’t want to sleep. The arrangement is Moblit would hand Eren over to Kenny the Ripper mere hours after returning from the expedition; his deadline closed minutes before his room door opened. Kenny slipped through, his hat pulled down slightly to cover his face.

“We had an arrangement, Moblit” Kenny grinned; his lips stretched wide, showing his teeth.

“T-there a complication in the expedition, an abnormal titan destroyed the right-wing and nearly killed Eren. He’s unconscious so, I couldn’t get to him, and I-I busted my leg dismantling some equipment,” Moblit said, his eyes looking at the floor, scared to stare the serial killer in the eyes.

“Tell me where Eren Yeager is, and I’ll consider letting your sister go,” Kenny said.

“I don’t know”, he whispered, “I-I saw Captain Levi carry him away, but not in the direction of Eren’s quarters. He could be in the infirmary or somewhere else entirely. And I-I doubt Captain Levi will leave Eren’s side; on the expedition, he lost his whole squad except for Eren. He seems protective.”

“Levi, huh” Kenny snarled.

“Yes, he’s considered humanity’s strongest soldier,” Moblit said, though, from the look on Kenny’s face, it’s clear he knew who Levi is.

“You’ll have to keep Yeager for another day; I prefer to have some backup should I go against Levi. I will contact you with a new plan soon; make sure you keep your end or else…” Kenny slid his finger over his neck before walking out the room. Moblit stared at the closed door, his mind racing. Did Kenny the Ripper know Levi, and if so, how? 

* * *

Eren groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. The last thing he remembers is transforming, and then nothing. His mind is as blank as it is the day he met the scouting regiment. Did something happen? Did he fight the female titan? Did he win? Running a hand through his already messy bed hair, Eren looked around his surroundings. This isn’t his room, it’s a little bigger, and the bed feels more comfortable than the lumpy mattress he has in his quarters.

“Your awake, brat,” the voice said; Eren head snaps over to the desk in the corner of the room. Levi sat, his one leg crossed over the other. Is this Levi’s room, and if so, what is he doing here?

“We need to stop meeting like this,” Eren joked. After all, this is the second time Eren’s woken up in another location after blacking out somewhere else; surprisingly, they both involved a titan, “Levi, what happened?”.

“What do you remember?” Levi asked as he stood, walking over to the bed and perched on the edge, besides Eren’s legs.

“I remember the female titan attacking, and we attacked. We thought we had the upper hand then… oh god. Petra died protecting me, and whilst I stayed frozen on the floor, it killed Oluo and Eld. I-I’m so sorry, Levi… if it hadn’t been for me, then your squad would still be alive,” Eren whispered, a stray tear sliding down his cheek dripping onto his hand, soon followed by another, then another. Levi sighed, cupping Eren’s cheek with his hand, his thumb brushing away the tears as they kept coming.

“Eren, it’s not your fault,” Levi said, his voice soft-sounding, “Petra, Oluo, Gunther and Eld died for what they believed is right.   
Sometimes you must make the decisions you will least regret. Being in the scouting regiment, we face impossible choices daily when we are outside the walls. We lose people we wish we can save had we been faster, stronger, better. All we can do is remember who they are and carry their sacrifice in our hearts; we use the strength they give us to wipe out the titans.”

“I wish I could’ve done more; I feel like I failed to protect them because I not strong enough. I’m not worthy of being in your squad, Levi,” Eren whispered.

“Eren, we’re still human at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter if we’re considered a titan shifter or humanity strongest. We will still have good days and bad days, and I wouldn’t want anyone else in my squad who isn’t you, Eren. We’ve known each other for years; you are the strongest person I’ve ever met. You’ve been through so much with your missing memories and trying to adapt to the challenges our lives face. I couldn’t be any prouder of you,” Levi said, standing up, holding his hand out to Eren, “Come on, eyebrows wanted to see you when you woke up.”

* * *

This felt like déjà vu, sitting in Erwin’s office with the commander, Hange, and Levi. They were waiting for Armin and Mikasa to arrive. According to Erwin, they’d been present when the female titan ripped him from his titan’s nape; Armin saw everything and like with Mikasa, they couldn’t lie what happened away. Armin knew, he knew everything, about Eren’s ability to transform, that Eren sealed Trost using his titan powers and how Eren is found – outside the walls with no memories. Eren isn’t sure how he feels about that; he’s spent so long trying to keep his past hidden to protect himself, to protect the scouting regiment and now, one by one, people are slowly finding out the truth about him.

They sat mostly in silence, with Hange breaking it by saying something about the titans they saw on the expedition, but other than that, no one felt like talking. The mission had been a disaster. Before coming to Erwin’s office, Levi filled him in on what happened. The whole right-wing decimated by the female titan, alongside Levi’s squad. They let the female titan escape when they saved Eren; they lost many skilled soldiers, Moblit’s out of action because of a busted leg. Everything had quickly gone downhill, and now he’s faced with the fact Armin knew about his complicated life, and Eren wasn’t the one who told him. He didn’t get the chance to break the news to him like he didn’t get the choice on whether they would tell Mikasa. Erwin made the call, and people found out it felt like a curse. One by one, everyone who finds out about Eren’s titan shifting ability is getting hurt; Eld, Gunther, Petra and Oluo were dead, Moblit injured. Who’s next? Hange or Levi, what if Mikasa and Armin get injured? Could Eren let other people die to protect him? He can lose his limbs, and they’ll grow back; that isn’t the same with soldiers. They’re normal; if they lose an arm, it’s permanent; when something is lost, then one can never get it back again.

The knock on the door drew Eren out of his thoughts, and he kept his eyes forced on the ground; he didn’t want to look Armin in the eye; he didn’t want to see the look of disgust which may be visible on his face when he saw the monster Eren is, the monster Eren can become.

“Recruit Arlert, Ackerman. Thank you for coming; given the situation, I would normally never discuss something classified with a recruit. However, Captain Levi and Eren have discussed how your quick thinking helped during the battle of Trost,” Erwin said, gesturing for Armin and Mikasa to take a seat, “In your report, you encountered the female titan before you witnessed what happened in the forest. Can you please tell me what you thought when you saw the titan?”.

“Of course, originally, I believed it to be an abnormal titan. It wasn’t interesting in eating us. Instead, it focused on killing before moving on. When I encountered it, I had my hood covering my face, and for one moment, it flung me from my horse. It looked at me like it recognised me. It checked my face, lifted my hood, and then left. At first, I believed it was abnormal, but after witnessing and being told Eren can turn into a titan, I think this abnormal is like Eren. It has a human inside controlling it,” Armin explained.

“Eren, you transformed into your titan form after the deaths of Levi’s squad if there anything you can remember about this titan shifter,” Erwin asked, looking over at him.

“I think Armin’s right about it being a titan shifter. A human attacked and killed Gunther; then the female titan appeared after this yellow lightning appeared in the sky, the same thing which happened when I shift,” Eren whispered, although it’s still loud enough for the others to hear, “I think it knew me – the shifter. I think they knew I could turn into a titan before they attacked. I’m not sure whether they saw anything at Trost or whether we knew each other before I lost my memories, but I’m sure I was targeted and… it did something after I transformed. I can’t remember what, a signal, and I blacked out. If I knew them before, then maybe this facility embedded signals into our minds to control us?”.

“It’s possible; we won’t know until we find this titan shifter,” Erwin said.

“Oi, eyebrows, you don’t think this shifter returned to the walls, do you?” Levi snapped when he saw the look on Erwin’s face.

“Again, it’s possible. We know they aimed to capture Eren alive and take them somewhere, to Wall Maria or beyond. When you rescued Eren and we returned to the wall, they effectively failed in their mission. There a chance they won’t leave until they’ve captured Eren. We figure out the who, we work out the why,” Erwin said. Eren wanted to sigh; it’s practically a needle in a haystack. The scouting regiment didn’t know about titan shifters until they found him unconscious in the nape of his titan form. It’s unlikely they will find another titan shifter without seeing them transform. It’s impossible.

“Um… commander, I may have an idea,” Armin spoke up.

“Of course, what do you think, Armin?” Erwin said, motioning for Armin to continue.

“Now I know about the existence of titan shifters, I was wondering whether a shifters titan form has any similarities with their human form and if so, we can deduce who the female titan looks like and… I might have a candidate. I got a good enough look at the titan when it stared at me, and I couldn’t help, but it reminds me of a girl from our training corps – Annie Leonhart; there a similarity between the two of them, both blonde. The facial structure is similar, and its fighting style resembles the unique moves Annie can do,” Armin explained. For the first time during this meeting, Eren looked at Armin, horrified. How can he quickly point his finger at Annie, the titan’s blonde? Is it not the only titan with blonde hair? Eren looked at Erwin with a desperate look on his face. His heart dropped when Erwin said.

“Well then, it looks like we need to pay Miss Leonhart a visit.”


End file.
